Slight declines on Wall Street, following the opening of the investigation against the chairman of the Fed

16:55

The declines on Wall Street moderate slightly. The Nasdaq index traded stable, the S&P 500 fell by about 0.1% and the Dow Jones weakened by about 0.4%.

The banking sector has weakened on Wall Street now, after President Trump called to limit the interest rates of credit companies to 10%, for a period of one year. Among the decliners can be found stocks Cityagroup , Capital One , Bank of America , Wells Fargo andJ. times. Morgan .

In the commodity market, gold and silver prices are trading at new all-time highs. The price of gold is now about $4,600 per ounce, while the price of silver is about $84.6 per ounce. The increases in the prices of the precious metals are attributed to the transition of some investors to safer assets, against the background of the fears of potential damage to the independence of the Federal Reserve, after the decision of the US Department of Justice to open an investigation against the Chairman of the Fed.

Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, told CNBC that “the market has seen this before and doesn’t like it. It’s not about Powell at this point, it’s about the independence of the Fed. So when this kind of news comes, the automatic response is to sell.”

16:35

Wall Street opens lower. The Nasdaq index traded stable, the S&P 500 lost about 0.3% and the Dow Jones weakened by about 0.9%.

The declines come as a result of the criminal investigation opened against the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, which is seen as an attempt by President Trump to put pressure on the central bank. The official reason for the investigation lies in testimony that Powell gave about the extensive renovation carried out at the central bank’s headquarters in the capital, Washington; but in an unusual video statement that Powell issued during the night, he claimed that in practice, the reason for the investigation is that the central bank did not fold in the face of the pressures that President Trump exerted on The bank to lower interest rates in the US over the past few months.

15:20

Gold hit a new all-time high today, extending a sharp rally as investors flock to safer offshore assets amid geopolitical and political upheavals in recent days.

The price of gold on the spot market jumped about 2% and reached more than $4,600 per ounce for the first time ever, before erasing some of the gains, according to LSEG data. Since the beginning of the year alone, prices have increased by about 6%. The surge comes following concerns in the US about the independence of the Federal Reserve.

Wall Street contracts are also down by 0.8% this morning following the criminal investigation that was opened against the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. The official reason for the investigation lies in Powell’s testimony about the extensive renovation that was carried out at the headquarters of the central bank in the capital Washington, the cost of which amounted to approximately 2.5 billion dollars.

Powell said the investigation was a result of the Fed maintaining independence and not aligning with President Donald Trump’s demand on interest rates.

 

Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell: https://t.co/5dfrkByGyX pic.twitter.com/O4ecNaYaGH

– Federal Reserve (@federalreserve) January 12, 2026

In a brief interview with NBC News yesterday, Trump insisted that he did not know about the investigation. When asked if the purpose of the investigation is to put pressure on Powell regarding interest rates, Trump replied: “No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way.”

Harel Finance quotes an expert on Fed affairs: “This sounds like Trumpist revenge and an attempt to pressure Powell to leave in May not only his position as governor but also his position on the Board of Governors. If Powell stays, it will complicate the majority that Trump wants there – Trump needs those chairs.”

“Trump seems determined to exercise control over the Federal Reserve, which could undermine the independence of the bank’s monetary policy,” said Fiona Lim, a senior foreign exchange strategist at Malayan Banking Bhd in Singapore. “Trump’s impatience and his decision to lower borrowing costs suggest that his choice for the next chairman may be a dove (a supporter of low interest rates) and loyal to the government, which could be a risk to the American currency”.

The dollar is posting its sharpest decline in nearly three weeks, the DXY dollar index is down about 0.3% and is on track for its biggest daily decline since December 23rd.

14:20

company Brainsway The dual, which deals in advanced and non-invasive treatment of brain disorders, announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted pre-marketing approval (PMA) to the Proliv™Rx system of its subsidiary, Neurolife, as an adjunctive treatment for adult patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD) who have not been able to achieve sufficient improvement from at least one previous antidepressant medication, for home or clinic use. Brainsway is invested in Neurolife and also holds an option to purchase it.

13:32

Teva shares soar in early trading. The company published two positive announcements tonight: the first concerns cooperation with the Royalty Pharma company to accelerate the development of an original drug intended for the treatment of the chronic skin disease vitiligo, and the second is the main points that CEO Richard Francis will say tomorrow (Tuesday) at the annual health conference of JP Morgan, and includes forecasts for the coming years.

At the same time, Teva published forecasts for the coming years. The forecast for 2025 is as given earlier, but Teva states that in terms of revenue it will be close to the lower limit of the forecast ($16.8-17 billion), in EBITDA it will be in the middle of the range ($4.8-5 billion), in net profit per share close to the upper limit ($2.55-2.65) and so is in the free flow ($1.6-1.9 billion).

10:37

Trading in Europe is on the decline this morning, the Paris Stock Exchange is down by 0.5%, London and Frankfurt by about 0.2%.

B Semiconductor Industries Expect orders for the fourth quarter to exceed 250 million euros ($292.2 million) – an increase of 43% compared to the 174.7 million euros recorded in the third quarter, and a jump of 105% compared to last year. The shares of the company that develops and manufactures semiconductor equipment opened the trading day on Monday with an increase of almost 8%. The Dutch company is expected to report its results for the fourth quarter next month.

At the same time, a share Heineken (Heineken) rose by almost 1% in the morning hours, after CEO and chairman of the board, Dolph van den Brink, announced his intention to retire from his position on May 31. The board of directors of the beer giant from Amsterdam said that it will begin the process of finding a successor to van den Brink, who has held the position for almost six years.

stock Avivox Soared 23% on Monday as the French biotech stock reportedly remains the target of takeover rumors. The company’s stock, which registered a rally of almost 1,700% last year, experienced sharp fluctuations during the last week.

08:50

In Asia, the week opens with gains – the Shanghai index and the Hang Seng index rise by 0.8%, South Korea’s Kospi index rises by 0.4%, India’s Nifty index sheds about 0.3%. There is no trade in Japan today.

Contracts on Wall Street are down by 0.8% this morning following the criminal investigation that was opened against the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. The official reason for the investigation lies in Powell’s testimony about the extensive renovation that was carried out at the headquarters of the central bank in the capital, Washington, and the cost of which amounted to approximately 2.5 billion dollars.

Powell said the investigation was a result of the Fed maintaining independence and not aligning with President Donald Trump’s demand on interest rates.

 

Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell: https://t.co/5dfrkByGyX pic.twitter.com/O4ecNaYaGH

– Federal Reserve (@federalreserve) January 12, 2026

In a brief interview with NBC News yesterday, Trump insisted that he did not know about the investigation. When asked if the purpose of the investigation is to put pressure on Powell regarding interest rates, Trump replied: “No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way.”

Harel Finance quotes an expert on Fed affairs: “This sounds like Trumpist revenge and an attempt to pressure Powell to leave in May not only his position as governor but also his position on the Board of Governors. If Powell stays, it will complicate the majority that Trump wants there – Trump needs those chairs.”

● From almost NIS 30 billion to NIS 6 billion: Has the S&P 500 trend passed?

The main indices on Wall Street closed higher at the weekend, after the employment report lowered expectations for an interest rate cut this month. US President Donald Trump met with oil company executives at the White House, following his statement about taking over Venezuela’s oil industry. In addition, the investors expected a decision by the Supreme Court on the legality of the administration’s tariffs, but the decision was not received.

The Dow Jones index rose 0.5% and closed at a record high, and in the weekly summary completed a rise of 2.3%, the S&P 500 climbed 0.7%, also to a record level, and rose 1.6% in the weekly summary, the Nasdaq added 0.8% to its value, and in the weekly summary rose 1.9%.

The shares of the nuclear energy companies Wistra andOklo jumped 11% and 8%, respectively, after signing super contracts Meta Platforms (Facebook) to supply energy to its data centers. Meta rose by 1.1%.

stock Intel Soared by 10.8%, after US President Donald Trump issued a statement praising the company, following his meeting with CEO Lip-Bo Tan. “The US government is proud to be a shareholder of Intel, and has already brought tens of billions of dollars to the American people through this ownership – in just four months,” he wrote.

stock General Motors fell by 2.7%, after the car manufacturer announced last night that it will suffer a loss of 7.1 billion dollars for its investment in electric cars.

An extraordinary jump was recorded in the stock Valence On Friday: the stock jumped 59% in a huge trading volume, which is more than 30 times higher than an average trading day for the stock. The spike in the stock may be related to a tweet on X and a post on the social network Reddit published by “Serenity” – an unidentified user. In the tweet and the post it was written about a mistake due to a wrong publication on one of the websites regarding a large volume of stock of Valens.

This week, consumer price data will be released on Tuesday, followed by producer price and retail sales data on Wednesday, as traders watch for signals about the Fed’s interest rate policy at the rate meeting at the end of the month, with the market giving a 95% chance that interest rates will remain unchanged.

At the same time, the report season begins with the big banks: JP Morgan will report on Tuesday, Wells Fargo and Bank of America on Wednesday, the next day Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will report alongside the chip manufacturer TSMC.

In the US, the yield on 10-year US government bonds fell by one basis point to 4.170%. The yield on the two-year American bonds increased by four basis points to a level of 3.54%.

In the commodity market, oil prices registered decent increases of over 2% and closed at their highest level since the beginning of December, completing a weekly increase of more than 3%, against the background of the escalation of riots in Iran and the developments in Venezuela. Texas Sweet crude oil contracts for February delivery rose 2.4% to close at $59.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. This was the highest close since December 5.

Investors are awaiting the results of US President Donald Trump’s meeting at the White House with the CEOs of major energy companies, to get more clarity about the US’s plans for Venezuela’s oil industry. Trump said before the meeting that the oil giants would invest at least $100 billion in Venezuela.

Investors’ eyes will be directed this week to the consumer price index in the US, which will be published on Tuesday, respectively. Market expectations are for a 0.3% monthly increase in inflation and a 2.7% increase in the annual rate.

On Friday, data published today by the US Department of Labor showed that the number of jobs added to the US labor market in December was 50 thousand, below forecasts. However, the unemployment rate fell from 4.5% to 4.4%. Following the jobs report, traders scaled back their bets on a rate cut this month. Federal rate contracts, which reflect market expectations for U.S. interest rates, give a 95% chance that rates will remain unchanged, in a range of 3.50%-3.75%, according to CME.