By Nadine PEREIRA
Published on Thu, 22.Jan.2026
Stocks rallied after President Trump said that he had reached a framework of a Greenland deal with NATO that would take away the need for new tariffs on Europe. "Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland," Trump posted on Truth Social. Based on the framework, "I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st," Trump added. The president said that Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others would be responsible for the negotiations on Greenland, which will include talk of the "Golden Dome" missile-defense project. Earlier in the day, the president said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the U.S. wouldn't use force to acquire Greenland. Major U.S. stock gauges rose after Trump's comments, then pared those gains by midday.
After a weak start and a further drop, the Swiss market stayed notably lower till well past mid afternoon on Wednesday, and then staged a recovery to finally end the day's session just marginally down. The benchmark SMI, which dropped to a low of 13,063.67, ended the session at 13,156.81, down 13.15 points or 0.1% from previous close. Alcon climbed nearly 4%. Lonza Group gained 2.54%, while Straumann Holding, Sonova, Givaudan, VAT Group, Kuehne + Nagel and Sandoz Group closed up by 1.2 to 1.7%. UBS Group gained about 1.1% and Sika moved up nearly 1%. Holcim, Richemont and Amrize posted moderate gains. Zurich Insurance closed down by 2.36%. Swiss Re, Nestle, Swiss Life Holding and Helvetia Baloise Holding lost 1 to 1.6%. Geberit and Lindt & Spruengli also closed weak. The U.S. President ruled out the use of military force to take control of Greenland during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 'We probably won't get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable. But I won't do that. Okay?' Trump said.
Europe
European stocks pared early losses and settled on a mixed note on Wednesday as investors largely stayed cautious for much of the trading session till about mid afternoon, and then weighed U.S. President Donald Trump's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos later on in the day. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.02%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed up by 0.11% and France's CAC 40 settled with a small gain of 0.08%, while Germany's DAX ended down by 0.58%. Switzerland's SMI closed 0.1% down. Among other markets in Europe, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia and Sweden ended higher. Denmark, Poland and Turkiye closed weak, while Belgium, Portugal and Spain ended flat. In the UK market, miners had a good outing, while bank stocks traded weak. Rio Tinto climbed about 5.2%. Anglo American Plc and Glencore moved up 4.9% and 3.75%, respectively. Fresnillo, Endeavour Mining and Antofagasta also closed with strong gains. Burberry Group surged 5% as the fashion house reported that retail like-for-like sales rose 3% in its third quarter, beating market expectations. JD Sports Fashion, Bunzl, Croda International, Halma, IAG, Diageo, Pershing Square Holdings, Ashtead Group, DCC, IMI and Spirax Group also posted impressive gains. Experian shed nearly % after the credit data and analytics company kept its FY expectations unchanged. Admiral Group closed lower by 4.1%. LSEG, Rolls-Royce Holdings, The Sage Group, Compass Group, ICG, Whitbread, AstraZeneca, Imperial Brands and Relx also ended notably lower. In the German market, Munich RE, Deutsche Boerse, Rheinmetall, Hannover Rueck, Siemens Healthineers, Allianz, Deutsche Telekom, Zalando, SAP, MTU Aero Engines and Continental lost 1 to 3%.
United States
After showing a strong move to the upside early in the session, stocks saw significant volatility over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages largely gave back their early gains in late morning trading before experiencing an afternoon resurgence and ending the day sharply higher. The major averages all posted strong gains on the day, partly offsetting the steep drop seen on Tuesday. The Dow surged 588.64 points or 1.2 percent to 49,077.23, the Nasdaq shot up 270.50 points or 1.2 percent to 23,224.82 and the S&P 500 jumped 78.76 points or 1.2 percent to 6,875.62. The volatility on Wall Street came as traders reacted to President Donald Trump's latest remarks about his efforts to take control of Greenland. Oil service stocks turned in some of the market's best performances amid an uptick by the price of crude oil, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index soaring by 4.8 percent to its best closing level in over a year. Substantial strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 4.4 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Biotechnology stocks also showed a significant move to the upside, driving the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index up by 3.6 percent. Semiconductor, transportation and housing stocks also saw considerable strength, while software and gold stocks bucked the uptrend.
Asia
Signs of détente in the Greenland dispute led to strong gains on some Asian stock markets on Thursday. The gains were particularly pronounced in Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 rose by 2.0 per cent. The Kospi in Seoul gained 1.2 per cent, climbing above the 5,000-point mark for the first time. By contrast, the Chinese stock markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong showed little movement.
Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries regained ground after moving sharply lower over the past few sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, decreased by 4.2 basis points to 4.253 percent.
Analysis
Vontobel raises Roche target to CHF 345 (288) – Hold
UBS raises ASM International target to EUR 815 (685) – Buy
Bank of America lowers Danone target to EUR 69 (70) – Underweight
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