ExxonMobil Corp. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Stock futures were near flat Monday night. The action came after the three major averages rallied on the U.S.’ capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and President Donald Trump’s call for American energy giants to invest in the oil-rich nation.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 8 points or 0.02%. S&P 500 futures slipped 0.02%, while Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.04%.
The 30-stock Dow closed at a record on Monday. Markets rallied after the U.S. captured and ousted Venezuelan leader Maduro over the weekend, while Trump encouraged big investments from U.S. oil companies. The market moves suggest that investors this time are pushing aside fears of bigger geopolitical conflicts and remain confident in risk-on assets as the new year begins.
“I think the Venezuelan situation was really a non-event for equities in general,” Barry Knapp, Ironsides Macroeconomics director of research, said Monday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.”
In regular trading, the Dow gained nearly 595 points, or about 1.2%, notching an all-time high and a record close. The S&P 500 advanced about 0.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose nearly 0.7%, with growth stocks Tesla and Amazon seeing gains.
Shares of several energy companies and defense giants rallied on bets that they could benefit from Trump’s push for U.S. oil players to rebuild Venezuela’s energy sector. A White House official told CNBC on Monday that the Trump administration has spoken to multiple oil companies about Venezuela, but did not specify which companies the administration has spoken to or when the conversations took place.
Chevron closed 5.1% higher on Monday, given that it is the only major U.S. oil company with current operations in Venezuela. Exxon Mobil and oilfield services companies Halliburton and SLB jumped, and General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin also received a boost.
Alongside the rally in U.S. equities, gold futures saw their best day since Oct. 20 as investors also piled into the safe-haven asset. U.S. oil futures settled 1.7% higher.
“Historically, headline-capturing geopolitical events can produce short-term volatility and falling equity prices,” Tom O’Shea, director of research and investment strategy at Innovator ETFs, said. “However, in this instance, the S&P 500 rose on the first trading day following the operation, with energy stocks leading the gains on anticipation that U.S. companies may benefit from potential infrastructure rebuilding in Venezuela. Defense stocks, precious metals, and Bitcoin also rallied, suggesting a mixed investor response.”
