Sanae Takaichi, Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), at party headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026.
Toru Hanai | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Japan’s Sanae Takaichi and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party won an overwhelming majority in Sunday’s election. defeat the overwhelming majority — which means the LDP has two-thirds or more in the Lower House and returns him as the country’s prime minister.
The result gives Takaichi ample room to push through his agenda, which includes increasing defense spending and ending some taxes on food. Japanese stocks rose to record highs on Monday, while yen strengthened to 156.88 per dollar, reflecting renewed investor confidence following the election results.
In Thailand, interim Prime Minister Anuthin Charnvirakul has declared victory after his Bhumjaytai Party. performed strongly in national elections. Analysts attributed some of the support to nationalism and the rise of Anutin tough stance against Cambodia during recent border clashes.
US markets are expected to open higher on Monday, with futures tied to the underlying market indicators increase in the state on Sunday evening.
That optimism follows a sharp rally on Friday, when tech stocks, for example Nvidia, Broadcomand Oracle led the charge.
“We’re on a gold rush with AI right now,” said Gabriel Shaheen, founder of Falcon Wealth Planning. “There’s money to be deployed… It’s just a carousel (money movement) that sometimes scares people.”
The rally drove the key indicators higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average It rose 2.47% to close above 50,000 for the first time. The S&P 500 rose 1.97% – putting it in the green for 2026 after entering negative territory after Thursday’s close – while Nasdaq Composite rose by 2.18%.
Bitcoin also rode the wave of sentiment. It was trading at $70,312.88 at 8 a.m. (7 a.m. ET) in Singapore. Interestingly, the price of the cryptocurrency increased by more than 11%. within a daysuggests investors haven’t lost faith in the asset and bought the dip – allaying some fears of a renewed ‘crypto winter’.
What you need to know today
Big Tech has lost more than $1 trillion in value jointly last week, according to FactSet data. The declines have had an impact Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta, Google and Oracle. Amazon alone has lost more than $300 billion in market capitalization.
The US and India have released the framework for a trade agreement. However, a joint statement issued on Friday indicated that India was opposed to the US push opens its agricultural market to import. In addition, Trump removed the 25 percent tariff from India for buying Russian oil.
Luckin Coffee opens China’s first high-end store on Sunday in Shenzhen. This is a move away from the original strategy of using budget coffee stalls aims directly at Starbucks. The CEO of the company hinted last year Plans to relist in the US
The Dow closed above 50,000 for the first time. Major US indices jumped on friday tech stocks rebounded. Pan-European Stoxx 600 increased by 0.89%. Shares of Milan Star dropped 24% after the firm said it would claim one amounted to 26 billion dollars from business recovery.
(PRO) Tech giants sold off in China last week. However, the reasons for the movements Different from the US– experts say.
And finally…
Elon Musk Wants to Be a Trillionaire—How SpaceX Can Get Him There
Elon Musk’s Rockets, not cars, may be on the way to becoming the world’s first trillionaire, as SpaceX now accounts for about two-thirds. Tesla The wealth of the CEO.
The tech mogul’s unprecedented wealth has grown since SpaceX was purchased his artificial intelligence company xAI struck a deal this week that valued the combined entity at $1.25 trillion. With Musk’s stake in the joint venture at about 43%, his stake is worth more than $530 billion, representing a rapid turnaround in his earnings.
— Robert Frank and Laura Kolodny