The US stock market begins today with significant pressure amid weekend geopolitical escalations. I notice Nasdaq 100 futures dropped about 1.5% at open, while investors flock to traditional safe assets.

What’s interesting is the movement of commodities—WTI oil briefly touched $75 per barrel before retreating below $72, while gold surged over 2% to reach $5,400 per ounce. This is a golden hour for investors seeking a store of value, although gold prices later retreated from the high levels. Market volatility spiked sharply with VIX and MOVE rising more than 10%, indicating quite high uncertainty.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, stayed above $66,000 with an increase of around 0.13% in the last 24 hours—interesting because this shows divergence from the pressured tech stocks. Cryptocurrency-related stocks varied, with some down 2-4% on exchanges. The US dollar index also strengthened to 98.2 amid capital flight into defensive assets.

As is often the case, the golden hour for safe haven assets arrives when market sentiment worsens. Investors still seem to be waiting for geopolitical clarity before returning to risk assets. This volatility may continue over the next few days.