Taken from CNBC’s Daily Open, our international markets newsletter — Subscribe today
Japan’s Sanae Takaichi and her ruling Liberal Democratic Party overwhelmingly found the support of voters in a Sunday election, sweeping a supermajority — which means the LDP holds two-thirds or more seats in the Lower House — and ushering her back as the country’s prime minister.
The outcome gives Takaichi broad latitude to pursue her agenda, which includes boosting defense spending and suspending some food-related taxes. Japanese stocks climbed to a record high Monday, while the yen strengthened to 156.88 per dollar, reflecting renewed investor confidence following the election results.
In Thailand, caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul declared victory after his Bhumjaithai Party performed strongly in national elections. Analysts attributed part of the support to surging nationalism and Anutin’s tough stance against Cambodia during recent border flare-ups.
U.S. markets look set to open higher on Monday, with futures tied to major indexes edging higher on Sunday evening stateside.
That optimism follows a sharp rebound on Friday, when tech stocks such as Nvidia, Broadcom, and Oracle led the charge.
“We’re in a gold rush right now with AI,” said Falcon Wealth Planning founder Gabriel Shahin. “There is money that will be deployed … It’s just the carousel [of money movement] sometimes scares people.”
The rally pushed major benchmarks higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average popped 2.47% to close above 50,000 for the first time. The S&P 500 rallied 1.97% — putting it back in the green for 2026 after it dipped into negative territory after Thursday’s close — while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.18%.
Bitcoin also rode the wave of sentiment higher. It was trading at $70,312.88 as of 8 a.m. Singapore (7 a.m. ET). Remarkably, the cryptocurrency’s price jumped more than 11% within one day, suggesting investors haven’t lost confidence in the asset and are buying the dip — assuaging some fears of a renewed “crypto winter.”
