Good morning, investors. The Venezuela news has come out like a firehose. There is a lot to unpack on the politics and legality of what’s unfolding, but the market is already sending a clear message.
It’s time to dive into the charts.
Data moves
Geopolitics have muscled their way back into markets to start the year, and investors are responding by buying now and asking questions later.
The most immediate reaction to the Venezuela news was felt in the energy sector. Shares of Chevron, Exxon, and ConocoPhillips all climbed more than 2% Monday.
Chevron gained over 5%, more than doubling its sector peers, which can be explained by its advantage as the only US company currently operating in Venezuela, which oversees the largest crude oil reserves in the world at 303 billion barrels.
Oil service company stocks saw a similar jump, with 5% gains hitting Halliburton, SLB, and Baker Hughes.
Both US and Brent crude oil prices rose more than 1.7% on the day, too.
President Trump over the weekend said that US oil companies will be tapped to fix and rejuvenate Venezuela’s infrastructure, which catalyzed the share price rally in the sector to start the week.
Meanwhile, Latin America stocks, as tracked by the iShares LatAM 40 ETF, gained more than 2% on the day, outpacing the 0.6% gain in the S&P 500.
As Opening Bell Daily covered on Monday, the region’s stock markets are set up with a bullish cocktail for 2026 that the regime change in Venezuela amplifies.
And even though markets largely took the Venezuela developments in stride, the classic safe-haven trade materialized anyway, with both gold and bitcoin gaining ground following the news.
We’ll have more reporting on Venezuela and what it means for investors over the coming days.
Market snapshot
Elsewhere
📊Jensen Huang spoke at CES. The Nvidia CEO revealed details about new product plans for the year, including a robotaxi service, as well as the chips customers should expect in the next generation. (Nvidia Newsroom)
🤷♂ Stocks have mostly shrugged off Venezuela. Fund managers and investors don’t seem to be planning on adjusting holdings based on the latest events, and the only ones who seem to be trading the region are focused on energy and oil. (Yahoo Finance)
Rapid-fire
Maduro claimed he was “kidnapped” and is a “prisoner of war” (CNBC)
Coinbase stock surged 8% after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to a buy (The Block)
Hilton stock dropped after the Department of Homeland Security criticized it for cancelling reservations for its agents (CNBC)
A former Fidelity manager suggested Tesla stock is worth just $80 (Barron’s)
American Bitcoin stock jumped double-digits after insider execs including Eric Trump bought shares of the company (WSJ)
Michael Burry has held Valero Energy since 2020 and it’s booming with the Venezuela regime change (CNBC)
Four reasons bitcoin did not perform well in 2025 (Pomp Letter)
On this day
🗓 January 6, 1975: US stocks began climbing out of the brutal 1973-1974 bear market that marked one of the worst drawdowns since the Great Depression.
Last thing
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About me
📰 I’m Phil Rosen, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Opening Bell Daily. I’ve published books, lived on three continents, and won awards for my journalism, which has appeared in Business Insider, Fortune, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg and Inc. Magazine.
I write our flagship newsletter and host our show, Full Signal, to prepare you for each trading day — unpacking markets, economic data and Wall Street with analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
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