Stocks track Wall St rally as Trump cools tariff threats in Davos

Online Desk

Published: 2026-01-22 16:26:46

Updated on: 2026-01-22 16:33:41

Asian equities advanced on Thursday, while safe-haven precious metals continued to decline, after Donald Trump backed away from his threat to impose tariffs on key European countries over their opposition to a US takeover of Greenland.

The rally was further supported by strong gains in regional technology stocks, as enthusiasm for artificial intelligence returned following comments from Nvidia’s chief executive that the sector would require “trillions of dollars” in additional investment.

Markets have been highly volatile this week after the US president warned at the weekend that he would impose tariffs on several countries—including Germany, France, the UK and Denmark—in response to their resistance to his ambitions regarding the North Atlantic island.

Those remarks prompted warnings of retaliation, with French President Emmanuel Macron suggesting the possible use of a powerful but rarely deployed tool designed to counter economic coercion, stoking fears of a trade conflict between major economic powers.

However, investor sentiment improved on Wednesday after Trump told the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos that he would not seize the Danish autonomous territory by force—as he had previously implied—and later confirmed that the tariff threat had been withdrawn.

“We have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,” he wrote on Truth Social, without offering further details.

“Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on 1 February,” he added.

The announcement triggered a rally of more than one per cent in US equities, which had slumped on Tuesday after reopening from a long holiday weekend.

Asian markets followed suit, with gains recorded in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei and Manila.

Gold and silver—both of which reached multiple record highs earlier in the week amid a rush into safe-haven assets—fell on Wednesday and extended their losses during Asian trading.

“After days of market anxiety over Greenland shifting from a diplomatic curiosity into tariff ammunition, the president arrived in Davos and did what markets have come to expect: he de-escalated,” said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.

“No force. No February tariffs. There is enough ambiguity to retain leverage but enough reassurance to release the pressure valve. In trading terms, the market moved from pricing a live grenade to pricing an option that expires at a later date.”

Analysts noted renewed optimism surrounding the so-called “Trump put”, the belief that sharp market declines would prompt the president to reverse policy.

Asian gains were led by technology-heavy markets in Tokyo, Taipei and Seoul, with the South Korean index surpassing 5,000 points for the first time as semiconductor stocks surged.

The rally followed comments by Nvidia chief Jensen Huang at the WEF, who said the infrastructure required to develop and power generative AI would demand vastly greater investment.

He described the current AI boom as “the largest infrastructure buildout in human history”, adding, “We are a few hundred billion dollars into it already, but there are trillions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure still to be built,” particularly in energy, cloud computing and electronics.

South Korean chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix rose by more than three per cent, while Japan’s SoftBank gained over seven per cent. Semiconductor-related firms Advantest and Tokyo Electron both advanced by more than four per cent.

Japanese precision equipment manufacturer Disco Corporation jumped 17 per cent in Tokyo following better-than-expected earnings results.

In Taipei, TSMC rose by more than one per cent.

Key figures at around 02:30 GMT: