Yahoo Finance

Various news outlets, including Bloomberg and LiveSquawk, are now reporting that Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek has moved to restrict registration on the app to Chinese phone numbers — a move which will stem its growth.

Even so, chip giant Nvidia, which has seen meteoric growth in recent years, is down 13.8% so far in the session, a one-day drop which speaks to investor attitudes to risk.

Nvidia's peers in the "Magnificent Seven" — Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Meta (META), Amazon (AMZN) and Tesla (TSLA) — were all off 2% or more in early trading. Broadcom (AVGO), another large player in the AI space, was down more than 12%.

Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at online trading platform IG, said:

Ryanair (RYA.IR) cut its forecasts for passenger growth in its quarterly update today, and hinted at an increase in fares in 2025.

It added that it expects to carry 26 million passengers in the year to March 2026. It had originally aimed at 210 million.

The budget carrier blamed the decrease on delays in deliveries of new planes from beleaguered plane maker Boeing (BA).

As tech stocks are heading lower, so is the largest cryptocurrency bitcoin, down more than 4% in the session as riskier bets are taken off the table.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is currently trading at above the $100,400 mark, having earlier dipped below £100k. The 6.5% dip marked the biggest intra-day drop since early December.

Safer assets are in vogue again amid a tech slump in markets, with investors heading to Treasuries to balance the books.

Yields on 10-year US bonds fell as much as 0.12% — the most in almost two weeks — to 4.50%, while the two-year rate dropped 10 basis points to 4.17%, the lowest in over a month. The yen and Swiss Franc are also heading higher.

Oil prices were flat on Monday morning, following Trump's repeated calls for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to lower prices.

Brent crude futures were little changed at $78.43 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was trading at $74.59 per barrel.

Trump said in a speech made remotely to the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday that he was going to ask OPEC – which is led by Saudi Arabia – to bring down oil prices.

The US president then repeated this call on Friday, saying it would help bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

"One way to stop it quickly is for OPEC to stop making so much money and drop the price of oil ... That war will stop right away," he said.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.L), said that the "uncertainty about future US policy and the impact on the global economy is ... weighing on oil prices."

Yahoo Finance UK's Pedro Goncalves writes:

Alphabet (GOOG), the parent company of Google, was trending in pre-market trading today, despite showing limited movement. Investors are biding their time ahead of the Q4 earnings report, scheduled for release on 4 February.

Wall Street analysts are forecasting robust results for the tech giant. They project earnings per share (EPS) growth of 29%, reaching $2.12, with revenue climbing 12% to $96.7bn for the quarter.

Google’s core business — internet search advertising — is expected to see an 11% increase, totalling $53.29bn. Meanwhile, YouTube’s advertising revenue is anticipated to grow by the same percentage, reaching $10.24bn. Alphabet’s cloud computing division is also on track for a good performance, with a projected 32% growth to $12.1bn.

The Q4 earnings call will be the first for Alphabet’s new chief financial officer, Anat Ashkenazi, who is expected to outline her strategic priorities to analysts.

Alphabet also remains a popular pick among hedge fund managers. According to Insider Monkey data, 202 hedge fund investors have increased their positions in the company. Investors are particularly drawn to Google Cloud, which continues to grow at a 35% year-on-year rate, generating $11.4bn in quarterly revenue.

Read more on Yahoo Finance UK

Yahoo Finance UK's Vicky McKeever writes:

The pound (GBPUSD=X) was volatile against the dollar in early European trading on Monday, slipping 0.2% to $1.2453, before heading 0.1% higher in early trade, with investors trying to navigate the uncertainties of US president Donald Trump's trade tariffs plans.

The moves came after a US-Colombia trade war was averted. Trump had ordered an emergency 25% tariff on Colombia over its refusal to allow two US military deportation planes to land in the country.

However, in the early hours of Monday morning, the US suspended its tariff threat after Colombia agreed to grant entry to the flights.

Jim Reid, market strategist at Deutsche Bank (DBK.DE), said: "This 12-hour incident feels like a template for how the US will now deal with its foreign policy issues."

Investors will also be looking ahead to central bank interest rate decisions this week, with the US Federal Reserve due to announce its decision on Wednesday, followed by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday.

In the case of the Fed, Reid said Deutsche Bank economists "expect a relatively quiet meeting with no rate move and limited guidance about future policy decisions."

"When asked about Mr Trump’s policies and their impact on inflation, expect Powell to play a straight bat and say that the committee wont prejudge policies in advance," he said.

Meanwhile, he said that Deutsche Bank economists expect the ECB to deliver another 25 basis-point cut on Thursday, which would take the policy rate to 2.75%.

The pound was higher against the euro (GBPEUR=X) on Monday morning, trading at around €1.19

Stock was 2.8% lower in early trade in London.

Russ Mould, AJ Bell investment director, said:

Drugmaker GSK (GSK.L) rose more than 1.5% in early trade on Monday, buoyed by news that it has struck a £50m deal with Oxford University to develop cancer research treatments.

The three-year partnership will attempt to develop future cancer vaccines by studying how the disease develops.

"By exploring precancer biology and building on GSK’s expertise in the science of the immune system, we aim to generate key insights for people at risk of developing cancer," said GSK chief scientific officer Tony Wood.

Stocks across Asia lost ground on Monday as worries about Chinese AI company DeepSeek reverberated. The company's discounted R1 model knocked tech stocks, sending the Nikkei (^N225) in Japan 0.9% lower. The SSE Composite (000001.SS) also fell 0.1%.

According to a Reuters report, DeepSeek's says its new free assistant uses lower-cost chops and less data — a potential shock for chipmakers and owners of data centres.

Softbank (9984.T), which bets heavily on new AI tech, fell 8.3% in the session.

The focus will be on tech and tech investors later on today when US markets open. Nasdaq futures are already almost 3% in the red.

US stocks look set to start the week in negative territory as geopolitical tensions between the US and Columbia ramp up.

US stocks retreated on Friday, stalling a recent rally as investors digested the latest batch of earnings and weighed President Donald Trump's hints at a softer stance on China tariffs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.3%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) also slipped 0.3% after the index hit its first record high of 2025 on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gave up 0.5%.

Trump's call at Davos for cuts to US interest rates, oil prices, and taxes spurred investor optimism for his policies, buoying stocks this week. The major gauges ended the holiday-shortened week with gains, demonstrating the power of Trump's comments even as Wall Street questions his ability to execute the changes.

The Dow rose 3%, the S&P put on 2.8% and the Nasdaq gained 3.2% for the week.

Hello again! Lucy Harley-McKeown here gearing up to bring you the latest markets news of the day.

This morning we have:

• Dr. Martens (DOCS.L) trading statement

• Ryanair (RYA.IR) quarterly results

• German Ifo economic survey

Later:

• US new home sales data

Let's get to it.