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Global stocks up slightly as Greenland tensions ease

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Oil settles up almost $2 on Trump threats on Iran

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Yen spikes against dollar, with traders on intervention

watch

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Dollar falls broadly, U.S. Treasury yields dip

By Sinéad Carew and Iain Withers

NEW YORK/LONDON Jan 23 (Reuters) -

Japan's yen spiked sharply higher against the dollar on

Friday as traders evaluated the possibility of an intervention

by Japanese authorities to support the currency while oil prices

rallied after U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheted up pressure

against Iran.

Elsewhere, safe-haven gold was trading at record highs and

MSCI's global equities gauge was modestly higher after a choppy

week while US Treasury yields edged up.

The yen was volatile, with two sudden spikes raising ‌market

speculation that authorities had

conducted a rate check

that is often a precursor to intervention.

The Japanese currency suddenly swung from a loss to a gain

versus the dollar earlier in the day and in afternoon U.S.

trading it sharply extended gains. Earlier the Bank of Japan ​had

signaled readiness to continue raising still-low borrowing costs

in a politically-charged atmosphere, ahead of a snap election

next month.

The jury was out among strategists on whether the afternoon

move reflected an actual ‍intervention or investor positioning

for one. Earlier, Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama

said she was

watching currency markets closely

, but declined to comment on ⁠speculation.

"I'm not hearing confirmation of official buying activity

yet, ⁠but if it looks like an intervention duck, walks like an

intervention duck, and quacks like an intervention duck, it's

probably an intervention duck," said Karl Schamotta, chief

market strategist at Corpay in Toronto.

"The dollar is declining in a broad-based manner, but ‌the

yen's move in the last few hours has been uniquely rapid and

significant, suggesting that Japanese authorities ​are stepping

in - or that traders are front-running an expected move."

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,

fell 0.61% to 97.70.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 1.53%

to 155.98. The euro was up 0.37% at $1.1797 and sterling

strengthened 0.81% to $1.3607.

In stocks, after two ⁠days of gains, Wall Street equities

suggested a muted end to a week punctuated by a ‍sell-off then a

relief rally ​linked to Trump's withdrawal of tariff threats and

ruling out seizing Greenland by force. Investors are still

waiting for details of Greenland negotiations between the U.S.

and European leaders.

With a busy week ahead, including a Federal Reserve

meeting, key economic releases and earnings reports, Gene

Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment

Management in El Segundo, California said that ‍investors were

taking a "wait-and-see approach."

The CIO also noted that traders may be wary of the potential

for market moving weekend news after last weekend's comments

from Trump pushed stocks lower at the start of the week.

In energy markets,

oil prices

settled up almost 3% after rising to their highest in more

than a week after U.S. Trump ramped up pressure on Iran through

sanctions on vessels that transport its oil, and an announcement

that an "

armada

" was heading towards the Middle Eastern nation. The

pressure served as warnings to Tehran against killing protesters

or restarting its nuclear program.

U.S. crude settled up 2.88%, or $1.71, at $61.07 a

barrel while Brent settled at $65.88 per barrel, up

2.84%, or $1.82 on the day.

Fed funds futures are pricing an implied 97% probability

that the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold rates steady next ​week,

according to the CME ‍Group's FedWatch tool.

With Thursday night's disappointing forecast pushing down

Intel ( INTC )

shares on Friday, investors were awaiting reports

from megacaps Microsoft ( MSFT ), Meta Platforms ( META ) and

industrial giant Caterpillar ( CAT ) among others next week.

Investors were also waiting for results from U.S.-brokered

trilateral talks over the Russia-Ukraine war. Negotiators met in

Abu Dhabi on Friday to tackle the vital issue of territory, with

no sign ​of a compromise, as Russian airstrikes plunged Ukraine

into its worst energy crisis of the four-year war.

On Wall Street at 02:50 p.m. (1950 GMT), the Dow Jones

Industrial Average was down 319.00 points, or 0.65%, to

49,064.56, the S&P 500 rose 2.76 points, or 0.04%, to

6,916.26 while the Nasdaq Composite rose 83.30 points,

or 0.36%, to 23,519.32.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe

rose 3.26 points, or 0.31%, to 1,039.29.

Earlier the

pan-European STOXX 600

index finished down 0.1% and snapped a five-week

winning streak, which was its longest since May. Despite a

mid-week rebound, the index closed 1.1% lower for the week as

investor sentiment was soured by flaring geopolitical

uncertainties.

In precious metals markets, silver and gold

set new records

with silver prices rising above $100 an ounce for the first

time and gold hitting another record and en-route to $5,000/oz

as investors continued to pile into safe haven assets amid

geopolitical turmoil.

Spot gold rose 0.95% ​to $4,983.42 an ounce. U.S. gold

futures rose 0.55% to $4,936.00 an ounce.

Elsewhere in metals, copper rose 2.92% to $13,128.50

a tonne. Three-month aluminum on the London Metal Exchange

rose 1.31% to $3,173.50 a tonne.

In Treasuries, the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes

fell 0.8 basis points to 4.243%, from 4.251% late on

Thursday while the 30-year bond yield fell 1.3

basis points to 4.8356%.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in

step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve,

fell 0.9 basis points to 3.605%, from 3.614% ‍late on Thursday.