Overnight US stocks | Three major indexes rose for the second consecutive day, with technology stocks rising across the board. Western Digital Corporation (WDC.US) rose by 9.6%.

On Tuesday, all three major indices recorded a second consecutive trading day of gains. The Federal Reserve is expected to announce its monetary policy meeting decision on Wednesday, with markets widely expecting the institution to maintain interest rates. [US Stocks] At the close, the Dow rose 47.40 points, or 0.10%, to 46993.81 points; the Nasdaq rose 105.35 points, or 0.47%, to 22479.53 points; the S&P 500 rose 16.75 points, or 0.25%, to 6716.13 points. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) fell 0.7%, Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US) rose over 4%, and Western Digital Corporation (WDC.US) rose 9.6%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon Index fell 0.73%, XPeng, Inc. ADR Sponsored Class A (XPEV.US) fell over 4%. [European Stocks] The German DAX30 index rose 156.97 points, or 0.67%, to 23722.73 points; the UK FTSE 100 index rose 86.12 points, or 0.83%, to 10403.81 points; the French CAC40 index rose 38.52 points, or 0.49%, to 7974.49 points; the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 28.19 points, or 0.49%, to 5767.20 points; the Spanish IBEX35 index rose 151.22 points, or 0.88%, to 17240.62 points; the Italian FTSE MIB index rose 535.94 points, or 1.21%, to 44883.50 points. [Asian Stock Market] The Nikkei 225 index fell by 0.094%, the South Korean KOSPI index rose by 1.63%, and the Indonesian Jakarta Composite index rose by 1.2%. [Cryptocurrency] Bitcoin fell by 0.16% to $74651.96, while Ethereum fell by 0.82% to $2338.37. [Oil] Brent crude oil prices rose by $3.21, or 3.2%, to $103.42 per barrel. US April-delivery West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures rose $2.71, or 2.9%, to $96.21 per barrel. [US Dollar Index] The US dollar index, which measures the dollar against six major currencies, fell by 0.13% to close at 99.574 in the currency market. At the close of the New York market, 1 euro exchanged for $1.1542, higher than the previous trading day's $1.1521; 1 pound exchanged for $1.3360, higher than the previous trading day's $1.3333. 1 USD exchanged for 159.00 Japanese yen, higher than the previous trading day's 158.95 Japanese yen; 1 USD exchanged for 0.7847 Swiss francs, lower than the previous trading day's 0.7867 Swiss francs; 1 USD exchanged for 1.3697 Canadian dollars, higher than the previous trading day's 1.3670 Canadian dollars; 1 USD exchanged for 9.2737 Swedish krona, lower than the previous trading day's 9.3263 Swedish krona. [Metals] Spot gold fell by 0.06% to $5003.52, while spot silver closed at $79.32. [Macro News] US government considers easing Venezuela sanctions to address oil price surge. According to reports, sources said that the Trump administration is considering further easing sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry to increase oil production at a time when escalating tensions with Iran are pushing oil prices higher. These measures may be announced as early as this week and would include issuing more individual licenses to allow foreign companies to operate in Venezuela without violating US sanctions. The Trump administration will also establish a broader mechanism to make it easier for more companies to enter the Venezuelan market. It is unclear at this time whether these measures will be implemented in the form of general licenses. Some sources say that companies expected to receive authorization from the US Treasury Department to operate in Venezuela include a subsidiary of the Indian state-owned company ONGC Videsh, Stockholm-based Maha Capital AB, and J&F Investimentos, a Brazilian meat processing giant. Sources: EU to restart approval process for US-EU trade agreement. According to sources, the EU will restart the approval process for the US-EU trade agreement, paving the way for the long-delayed agreement to be finally approved. Members of the European Parliament responsible for supervising the process made this decision on Tuesday, despite recent US investigations into EU trade practices that could lead to additional tariffs. However, MEPs decided to continue the process as long as the US is willing to adhere to the terms of the trade agreement reached with the EU last summer, particularly keeping the maximum tariff rate of 15% on most EU exports. This move may provide some relief to the escalating tensions between the US and the EU. In recent months, the EU has repeatedly delayed the approval of the agreement, citing uncertainties such as Trump's threat to acquire Greenland and the Supreme Court ruling that Trump's global tariffs are invalid. Report: EU to delay Basel reform to maintain bank competitiveness. The European Commission is reportedly planning to delay the impact of global banking reforms aimed at preventing EU lending institutions from being disadvantaged by the US's reduction of capital requirements for large banks. According to two informed officials, Brussels will pass legislation after Easter to offset the short-term effects of the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB), a core component of the Basel III framework for regulating market risks. The FRTB reform introduces a more risk-sensitive framework for trading activities, replacing old models and imposing stricter rules on how banks measure potential losses and allocate capital buffers. The European Banking Authority estimates that implementing FRTB will increase market risk capital requirements by an average of about 30%, with some banks seeing increases of up to 80%. Prior to this delay, requests from lending institutions and politicians to ease regulatory burdens and ensure the competitiveness of EU banks led to this decision. US pending home sales unexpectedly rise in February. Pending home sales in the US unexpectedly increased in February, the first time in three months. Buyers took advantage of lower mortgage rates and favorable conditions of slowing price growth. According to data released by the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday, pending home sales in the US rose 1.8% month-over-month, compared to economists' average forecast of a 0.6% decline. The signing of contracts for home purchases increased in February, when mortgage rates had fallen to their lowest levels since 2022. This is good news for the real estate market ahead of the spring selling season, when housing supply usually increases and trading activity accelerates. Lower borrowing costs and slower price growth have improved affordability for recent homebuyers. Analyst: Traders mispricing Canadian central bank rate path. Brent Donnelly, President of Spectra Markets, said traders are mispricing the possibility of a rate hike by the Canadian central bank later this year. Donnelly stated that Canada's overall inflation rate is below 2% and the unemployment rate remains high. He said, "In my view, the level of tightening priced in by traders for the Bank of Canada is virtually impossible, even if oil prices remain above $100 for the rest of the year." The Bank of Canada is set to announce its next rate policy decision on Wednesday. Donnelly added that for fixed-income traders, "there isn't much to be made on either side, as cutting or hiking rates could be unwise in the current environment." [Stock News] Jensen Huang bullish, maintains trillion dollar revenue forecast. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) CEO Jensen Huang stated that his $1 trillion revenue forecast for the company's AI chip sales the day before did not cover all its products, and hinted that total revenue would exceed that level as the company enters new markets. Speaking at an event in San Jose, California, Huang said the company expects to complete, account for, and deliver over $1 trillion in business. He told analysts and investors present that NVIDIA Corporation had "strong confidence" in "over $1 trillion." Less than a day earlier, Huang had predicted that NVIDIA Corporation's flagship AI processors would help the company achieve $1 trillion in sales by 2027 and said that computing demand had grown "by a factor of a million" over the past two years. Following this news, the company's stock price initially rose by 4.8%, then stabilized, and remained flat on Tuesday. Qualcomm raises dividend by 3.4% and adds $20 billion share buyback. The board of Qualcomm (QCOM.US) has approved a 3.4% increase in their quarterly dividend, raising it from 89 cents per share to 92 cents, and increasing the authorization amount for its stock buyback plan by $20 billion. The new quarterly dividend amount of $3.68 per year equates to an annual dividend yield of approximately 2.84% based on the closing price of $129.39 on Monday, higher than the previous 2.75%. This adjustment will take effect on March 26. Qualcomm stated that the new buyback program is an addition to the previously announced $15 billion repurchase plan from November 2024, which had about $21 billion remaining. As of February 2, Qualcomm's outstanding shares were close to 1.07 billion, with a market capitalization of over $138 billion.