A senior US envoy is traveling to Moscow this week as Russia claims advances around the strategically important Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, adding urgency to the latest round of diplomatic efforts aimed at breaking the deadlock in the nearly four-year conflict.
Despite December’s reputation as a historically strong month for equities, US markets started on the back foot, with major indexes slipping between 0.5% and 1% in yesterday’s session amid thin data flow and renewed geopolitical uncertainty.
In China, AI startup DeepSeek unveiled two updated versions of the model it released only weeks ago, introducing a suite of automated features as it seeks to consolidate its position among the country’s most rapidly evolving tech players.
European equities traded firmer, rising about 0.7% on average and led by gains in Spain and Germany. Asian markets were broadly flat, while US equity futures indicated an attempt to claw back roughly half of Monday’s declines.
Gold retreated 1.3% to around $4,217, reversing part of last week’s rally as investors rotated toward the dollar ahead of a busy month of central-bank communications.