World

MINING stocks in Asia and Europe climbed with metals prices as investors rotated into hard assets, driven by a weakening dollar and growing unease over currencies, geopolitics and global fiscal risks.

The Stoxx 600 Basic Resources sub-index rallied as much as 1.5% on Monday to its highest intraday level since June 2008. Fresnillo Plc and KGHM Polska Miedz SA led gains after gold passed $5,000 for the first time, while silver and platinum touched records. In Asia, Korea Zinc Co. shares climbed as much as 14% in Seoul while Zhongjin Gold Corp.’s jumped 10% in Shanghai. Markets were closed for holidays Monday in Australia and India.

The advances mirror a powerful rally in metals markets, where gold, silver, copper and aluminum are climbing on what traders describe as a debasement trade. Investors are pulling away from currencies and Treasuries, seeking refuge in hard assets as concerns mount over fiscal largesse, geopolitics and the durability of US exceptionalism.

The rally in metals “is a long term trend that we have been observing for several years,” said Frank Benzimra, head of Asia equity strategy at Societe Generale SA. Reasons include a diversification away from US assets, and rising defense spending boosting demand for base metals along with AI-related needs.

The dollar fell Monday on heightened alert of Japan government intervention to halt a slide in the yen — possibly with rare US assistance. Gold surged above $5,000, rising a continued uptrend from last week’s market turmoil over President Donald Trump’s threats over Greenland and attack on the Federal Reserve’s independence.

Mining stocks have climbed with metals on safe haven appeal as well as demand for copper and other materials required for the AI buildout, yet they remain relatively cheap. The MSCI Asia materials gauge trades at 14.6 times forward earnings estimates, compared with 15.4 times for the broader index.

“We expect this year’s investment focus to be increasingly skewed toward commodities,” said Gerald Gan, chief investment officer at Singapore-based Reed Capital Partners. “We have reduced exposure to technology stocks and US Treasury bonds, with a portion of the proceeds already redeployed into mining companies and direct commodity positions.”

The Fed’s policy decision due Wednesday is among key watchpoints for global investors. While the central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold, focus is on who will succeed Jerome Powell as chair — Trump is expected to announce his choice as soon as this week.

“Markets are clearly shifting into a ‘buckle-up ahead-of-the-next-storm’ mode,” said Hebe Chen, a senior market analyst at Vantage Global Prime Pty. “In that environment, capital naturally looks for a stabilizing, debasement-resilient anchor, lifting physical and physical-linked assets such as miners and metals.” –BLOOMBERG

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DEMAND for exchange-traded products focused on European equities was so strong in 2025 that they attracted a “decade in a year” of inflows, according to BlackRock Inc.’s Ursula Marchioni. 

These funds attracted $92 billion last year, close to the $94 billion they cumulatively received between 2014 and 2024, Marchioni, head of investment and portfolio solutions for EMEA at the world’s largest asset manager, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. 

The flows highlight growing appetite for European equities as investors seek opportunities outside the US, where much of the record-setting rally has been driven by a narrow group of stocks benefiting from the artificial intelligence boom. 

“We’ve seen last year the great repatriation trade,” Marchioni said. “There is this desire to diversify and remain exposed to the AI trade and to the US, but with some form of protection.”

There’s optimism about the outlook for the European economy, given increased government spending led by Germany. Analysts also expect Stoxx 600 profits to rise by about 10% this year after zero growth in 2025, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

“We have conviction into very strong earnings,” Marchioni said. “I do see investors wanting to take part in that, but at the same time take into account other diversification elements, which could be trading around AI or beyond AI, thinking about European defense or US health care.”

European stocks have climbed 37% since the start of last year in dollar terms, twice the S&P 500 gains over the same period. Gains in Europe have recently extended across different sectors, with banks, miners and defense all outperforming. Investors are also attracted to Europe by valuations that are less demanding than those for equities in the US, with the Stoxx 600 trading at a discount of around 30%.  –BLOOMBERG

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THE heaviest winter storm in years dropped mounds of snow on New York City, making Monday’s morning commute messy for those willing to brave it. 

Commuter lines run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are operating with modified schedules on Monday, while at least one private bus operator, Boxcar, used by New Jersey workers, suspended its service because of the inclement weather. 

New Jersey Transit, which halted bus, lightrail and train service on Sunday, said that it will resume operations in phases. The system’s three light rails have started for the morning commute while bus service will start with 21 routes at 10:00 am New York Time. 

The Long Island Rail Road is running on a weekend schedule, while Metro North trains are operating on an “enhanced Saturday schedule,” the MTA said in a statement on Sunday. Three of the main lines — Hudson, Harlem and New Haven — have reduced options. 

New York City’s subway and bus system is largely expected to run as scheduled, though multiple lines had delays on Monday morning. 

“Public transit is continuing at this time, if anything there may be minimal service delays, but by and large it is as expected,” said New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He noted that the city is taking precautions, but advised commuters who can work remotely, to log on from home on Monday. For those who can’t, “we are doing everything we can to make it as least hazardous as possible.” 

New York’s Central Park got at least 11.4 inches of snow after tapering off, though extreme-cold temperatures are expected to continue through much of the week. 

Manhattan’s low is forecast to drop to 12F Monday, and 10F Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. New York temperatures will continue to plummet through the week with readings reaching a frigid 5F Thursday night with only a high of 17F on Friday. 

“The real story now is turning to the extreme cold, which is only going to prolong the dangerous travel and infrastructure impacts well into the week,” said Allison Santorelli, a forecaster with the US Weather Prediction Center. “More than 200 million Americans are under some king of extreme cold warning, watch, or advisories.”

The NYC Ferry shut down all lines on Sunday due to poor visibility, though service is anticipated to return to normal on Monday. The Staten Island Ferry was running on a reduced schedule. 

More than 600 flights scheduled for Monday have been canceled at Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, according to data from FlightAware. 

New York Governor Kathy Hochul also encouraged employers to allow their staff to clock in virtually on Monday.

“Stay off the roads,” she said in a Sunday briefing. “They’re going to be slick, icy, snow covered. If you can stay home with these extremely cold temperatures and hazardous roads, you and your family will be much more safe.”

New York State employees have the go-ahead to work from home Monday, and New Jersey said its offices would be closed and staff would log on virtually. 

New York City’s public schools students are already planning for a day at home, with Chancellor Kamar Samuels announcing the system would pivot to remote learning on Monday, though he said there would be time for students to “enjoy the snow” as well. 

Mamdani said he understood that students were upset about not having a traditional snow day, and welcomed that they pelt him with snowballs should they see him around the city. 

Read More: NYC’s Mamdani Crushes Snow Day Hopes, But He Yearns for It Too

But students at several private schools have no need to go on the offense — schools like the Upper East Side’s The Dalton School and Trinity School on the Upper West Side called off lessons.

“Trinity is trading textbooks for snow boots tomorrow, Monday, January 26! Because of the heavy snowfall making travel difficult, school is closed tomorrow,” the school advised on X. “Be safe, be warm, and enjoy the snow!” –BLOOMBERG

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MANILA – A ferry with more than 350 people onboard sank early Monday in choppy seas off the southern Philippines, killing at least 18 and leaving 24 still missing, the coast guard said.

The MV Trisha Kerstin 3 issued a distress signal around 1:50 am (1750 GMT Sunday), a bit over four hours after it departed the Port of Zamboanga City on the southwestern tip of Mindanao, the coast guard said in a statement.

Video released by the governor of Basilan province showed barefoot survivors being wrapped in blankets and placed on gurneys, while victims of the sinking were carried past in body bags.

The triple-decker vessel went down on nearly the same route where 31 people died in 2023 after a fire aboard the Lady Mary Joy 3 ferry. Both ships were owned by locally based Aleson Shipping Lines.

At least 317 people have so far been rescued, according to the most recent tally by the Philippine Coast Guard, with 18 confirmed dead and 24 still unaccounted for amid an ongoing search-and-rescue operation.

Sheryl Balondo, a rescuer in Isabela City, one of two municipalities where survivors were being taken, said their office had received more than 100 phone calls from concerned family members.

“There’s a tug in our hearts whenever we pick up a call. Their voices sounded worried,” she said. “What we can only say is that, as of now, we don’t have the final list (of names), because the search and retrieval operation is ongoing.”

The 44-metre (144-foot) ferry went down about five kilometres east of Baluk-Baluk Island, part of the Basilan province chain of islands off the Zamboanga peninsula.

“Based on the account of some survivors, the waters in the area were rough at the time,” Philippine Coast Guard spokeswoman Noemie Cayabyab said in a televised interview.

Short-staffed rescuers

Basilan emergency responder Ronalyn Perez told AFP that rescuers were struggling to handle the influx of survivors.

“The challenge really is the number of patients that are coming in. We are short-staffed at the moment,” Perez said in an interview, adding that at least 18 had been brought to one local hospital.

Video released by the Philippine Coast Guard showed survivors being plucked from the water and receiving medical attention.

Some could be heard shouting for help in the dark in a live video on Facebook.

“We cannot say for now the reason of the sinking, but we were instructed to conduct a marine casualty investigation to determine the cause,” Romel Dua, a coast guard commander from southern Mindanao, told AFP. “As of now, we are focused on the rescue.”

Survivors were being brought to the coast guard stations in Zamboanga and Isabela City, he added.

In its statement, the coast guard said the ferry had not been overloaded.

“Our thoughts and hearts are with everyone who was on board,” Aleson Shipping Lines said in a statement, adding they were “working tirelessly” in close coordination with the coast guard.

The archipelago nation of 116 million has a long history of disasters involving the inter-island ferries that ply its seas.

Many rely on cheap and poorly regulated boats and ships for transport between the country’s more than 7,000 islands, despite regular accidents.

A 2015 ferry capsizing off the western coast of Leyte Island resulted in more than 60 deaths.

In 1987, the Dona Paz ferry collided with an oil tanker in a pre-Christmas accident that claimed more than 4,000 lives. It was the world’s worst peacetime disaster at sea. –AFP

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NEW DELHI — Indian carrier IndiGo has cancelled flights to four countries due to “developments” related to Iran.

“We remain vigilant to developments in the region around Iran and are proactively reviewing flight operations, with safety being our highest priority,” the airline said in a statement on the social media platform X on Sunday.

It cancelled scheduled services on the Tbilisi, Almaty, Tashkent and Baku routes until January 28.

IndiGo also advised customers to regularly check their flight status online and thanked them for their patience and understanding as it takes precautionary measures to ensure safe and smooth travel.

The move comes amid escalating tensions between Iran and the United States (US), raising fears that the situation could lead to a military conflict.

According to reports, the US has moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and other air force and naval assets to the Middle East, significantly raising its regional military buildup. — BERNAMA

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AN INTERNATIONAL group of plaintiffs sued Meta Platforms, Inc. alleging that the company has made false claims about the privacy and security of its WhatsApp chat service.

Meta has made so called “end-to-end” encryption a central part of WhatsApp’s feature set, offering a kind of encryption that means a message is only accessible to the sender and recipient, but not the company. 

In this kind of encrypted chat, which the company says is turned on by default, WhatsApp’s in-app messaging says “only people in this chat can read, listen to, or share” the messages. 

In the lawsuit filed Friday in US District Court in San Francisco, the group of plaintiffs allege that Meta’s privacy claims are false. They allege that Meta and WhatsApp “store, analyze, and can access virtually all of WhatsApp users’ purportedly ‘private’ communications” — and accuse the companies and their leaders of defrauding WhatsApp’s billions of users worldwide. 

A spokesperson for Meta, which acquired WhatsApp in 2014, called the lawsuit “frivolous” and said that the company “will pursue sanctions against plaintiffs’ counsel.”

“Any claim that people’s WhatsApp messages are not encrypted is categorically false and absurd,” spokesperson Andy Stone said in an email. “WhatsApp has been end-to-end encrypted using the Signal protocol for a decade. This lawsuit is a frivolous work of fiction.”

The group, which includes plaintiffs from Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa, alleges that Meta stores the substance of users’ communications and that workers can get access to them. 

The complaint cites “whistleblowers” as having helped bring this information to light, though it doesn’t explain who they are.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs are asking the court to certify a class-action suit. Multiple attorneys listed in the suit from the firms of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Keller Postman didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Another one of the plaintiff’s lawyers, Jay Barnett, from Barnett Legal, declined to comment Saturday night. –BLOOMBERG

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CAIRO/ISTANBUL — Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty (picture) called for Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and reopening the Rafah border crossing under last year’s ceasefire deal, Anadolu Ajansi reported.

The call was made on Sunday during Abdelatty’s meeting in Cairo with US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau to discuss bilateral relations and regional developments.

The two diplomats reviewed ways to strengthen the strategic partnership between Egypt and the US and means of developing bilateral relations in the political and economic fields, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The discussions also dwelt on developments in Gaza, Sudan, the Horn of Africa region, and Egypt’s water security.

Abdelatty welcomed Egypt’s joining US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace”.

The board is an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, re-establish good governance and the rule of law, and ensure lasting peace in areas affected by or threatened by conflict, according to its charter.

Abdelatty stressed the importance of implementing the obligations of the second phase of Trump’s plan on Gaza, supporting a national committee tasked with running Gaza, and the swift deployment of an international stabilisation force to monitor the ceasefire.

He also emphasised the need to reopen the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt in both directions and achieve Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza to pave the way for early recovery and reconstruction, the statement said.

On Sunday, Israel’s Army Radio reported that Washington had reached an understanding with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the reopening of the Rafah crossing, a vital route for aid delivery into Gaza.

The Israeli news website Walla said the crossing is set to open later this week.

The ceasefire plan halted Israel’s two-year war on Gaza, which has killed more than 71,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 others since October 2023. — BERNAMA-ANADOLU

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CISARUA – Indonesian rescuers resumed searching on Sunday for around 80 people missing in a deadly landslide, after the mission coordinator said operations had to be suspended overnight due to harsh weather.

Triggered by heavy rain, the landslide barrelled into villages in Java’s West Bandung region early Saturday morning, burying residential areas and forcing dozens of people to evacuate their homes.

At least nine people were killed and around 80 are still missing, the local search and rescue agency confirmed on Saturday, warning that the figures were provisional.

The rain forced rescue efforts to pause overnight, mission coordinator Ade Dian Permana said in a statement.

But operations resumed on Sunday morning as the rain subsided, an AFP reporter saw.

Rescuers, helped by the military, police and volunteers, have been excavating manually.

They are also deploying drones and canine units to scour the area for victims, according to the national rescue agency.

West Bandung’s mayor warned on Saturday that the terrain was extremely difficult and the ground remained unstable.

Floods and landslides are common across the vast archipelago during the rainy season, which typically runs from October to March.

The disaster comes after tropical storms and intense monsoon rains late last year triggered flooding and landslides that killed around 1,200 people and displaced more than 240,000 in Indonesia’s Sumatra island, according to official figures.

Environmentalists, experts and the government have pointed to the role forest loss played in the flooding and landslides that washed torrents of mud into villages.

The government filed multiple lawsuits following the Sumatra floods, seeking more than $200 million in damages against six firms.

This month, torrential rains battered Indonesia’s Siau island, causing a flash flood that killed at least 16 people. –AFP

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TOKYO – Panda lovers in Tokyo said goodbye on Sunday to a hugely popular pair of the bears that are set to return to China, leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century.

Loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy” programme, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolised friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since the normalisation of diplomatic ties in 1972.

Some visitors at Ueno Zoological Gardens were left teary-eyed as they watched Japan’s only two pandas Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao munch on bamboo.

The animals are expected to leave for China on Tuesday following a souring of relations between Asia’s two largest economies.

“I feel like seeing pandas can help create a connection with China too, so in that sense I really would like pandas to come back to Japan again,” said Gen Takahashi, 39, a Tokyo resident who visited the zoo with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.

“Kids love pandas as well, so if we could see them with our own eyes in Japan, I’d definitely want to go.”

The pandas’ abrupt return was announced last month after Japan’s conservative premier Sanae Takaichi hinted Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of any attack on Taiwan.

Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.

The 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery took turns viewing the four-year-old twins at Ueno zoo while others gathered nearby, many sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to celebrate the moment.

Mayuko Sumida travelled several hours from the central Aichi region in the hope of seeing them despite not winning the lottery.

“Even though it’s so big, its movements are really funny—sometimes it even acts kind of like a person,” she said, adding that she was “totally hooked”.

“Japan’s going to be left with zero pandas. It feels kind of sad,” she said.

Their departure might not be politically motivated, but if pandas return to Japan in the future it would symbolise warming relations, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and expert in East Asian international relations.

“In the future…if there are intentions of improving bilateral ties on both sides, it’s possible that (the return of) pandas will be on the table”, he told AFP. –AFP

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