Overnight US stocks | Trump and Zelensky's White House meeting caused quite a stir, Nasdaq fell nearly 4% this month.

On Friday, the three major indexes opened lower and then rose. At one point during the trading day, all gains were wiped out. The U.S. President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky had a heated argument during their meeting, leading Zelensky to leave the White House early. Trump stated on the social platform Truth that Zelensky was not ready for peace, and he can come back when he is prepared. An unnamed senior U.S. official revealed that the Trump administration is considering stopping all military assistance to Ukraine. [US Stock Market] At the close, the Dow rose 601.41 points, or 1.39%, to 43840.91 points; the Nasdaq rose 302.86 points, or 1.63%, to 18847.28 points; the S&P 500 rose 92.93 points, or 1.59%, to 5954.50 points. In February, the Dow fell by 1.58%, the S&P 500 fell by 1.43%, and the Nasdaq fell by nearly 4%. [European Stock Market] The German DAX30 index rose 24.34 points, or 0.11%, to 22547.94 points; the UK's FTSE 100 index rose 53.09 points, or 0.61%, to 8809.30 points; the French CAC40 index rose 9.11 points, or 0.11%, to 8111.63 points; the European Stoxx50 index fell 4.70 points, or 0.09%, to 5466.65 points; the Spanish IBEX35 index rose 89.02 points, or 0.67%, to 13340.22 points; the Italian FTSE MIB index rose 57.16 points, or 0.15%, to 38680.00 points. [Asia-Pacific Stock Market] The Nikkei 225 index fell by over 2.8%, the South Korean KOSPI index fell by over 3%, and the Indonesian Composite Index fell by over 3%. [Foreign Exchange] The US Dollar Index against six major currencies rose by 0.35% to 107.616 in the forex market at the end of the day. At the end of the New York market, 1 euro exchanged for 1.0368 US dollars, down from 1.0404 US dollars the previous trading day; 1 pound exchanged for 1.2572 US dollars, down from 1.2608 US dollars the previous trading day. 1 US dollar exchanged for 150.54 Japanese yen, up from 149.87 Japanese yen the previous trading day; 1 US dollar exchanged for 0.9035 Swiss francs, up from 0.8996 Swiss francs the previous trading day; 1 US dollar exchanged for 1.4459 Canadian dollars, up from 1.4441 Canadian dollars the previous trading day; 1 US dollar exchanged for 10.7706 Swedish krona, up from 10.7467 Swedish krona the previous trading day. [Cryptocurrency] Bitcoin fell below the $80,000 mark, then quickly rose. As of the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $84,248.38. [Gold] Gold had its largest weekly drop in three months, ending an eight-week streak of gains. COMEX gold futures fell by 0.99% to $2867.3 per ounce; COMEX silver futures fell by 1.26% to $31.705 per ounce. [Oil] US WTI crude oil prices fell on Friday, marking the first monthly decline since November 2024. The market is preparing for Washington's tariff threats and Iraq's decision to resume oil exports from the Kurdistan region. The New York Mercantile Exchange's West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for April delivery fell 59 cents or 0.84% to $69.76 per barrel. The most active contract, WTI crude oil, fell by 3.8% this month. [Macro News] U.S. real consumer spending experienced the largest drop in nearly four years, while the PCE price index moderately increased. Due to extreme winter weather, U.S. consumers unexpectedly reduced their spending on items like cars, while spending on services also slowed down in January. If this trend continues, it may raise concerns about the resilience of the U.S. economy. Adjusted for inflation, consumer spending fell by 0.5% in January, the largest monthly drop in nearly four years. A significant drop in car purchases contributed to the decline in consumer spending, while categories like leisure goods also saw decreases. "Consumers took a breather in January. The key question is whether this signals a more cautious consumer for 2025," said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY. "Spending on services is not significant, so this may not just be a post-holiday pause." The cancellation rate of home purchase contracts in the U.S. in January reached the highest level in years due to various uncertainties troubling homebuyers. U.S. homebuyers canceled sales contracts at a record pace, as economic and political uncertainty caused them to back out. Data from Redfin Corp. shows that around 14.3% of sales agreements in January were not completed, higher than the 13.4% from a year ago, marking the highest level for the same period in years since data has been collected in 2017. Homebuyers are facing increasing pressures, from persistently high mortgage rates, inflation, to the impact of the trade war, and federal spending cuts on the economy. The higher cancellation rate of home purchase contracts casts a shadow on the prospects of the upcoming spring sales season. Before Redfin released its report, data from the National Association of Realtors showed that last month's existing home sales contracts dropped to a record low. Redfin said, "Widespread economic and political uncertainties caused more buyers and sellers to withdraw from transactions in January. Tariffs, layoffs, and changes in federal policies are factors that create an unstable atmosphere. Some choose to step back temporarily." Disagreements occurred multiple times during the U.S.-Ukraine presidential meeting, and the White House confirmed that the two countries did not sign a mineral agreement. On February 28th local time, U.S. President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky had a meeting at the White House where they had several disputes. Zelensky demanded security assurances from the U.S., openly challenging Trump's mild attitude towards Russian President Putin, and refuted Trump's statement that "Ukrainian cities have been leveled in a three-year war." Trump and Vice President Pence said Zelensky "disrespected the U.S." and was "gambling with World War III," stating, "Either Ukraine reaches an agreement, or the U.S. will withdraw." Trump said Ukraine has no right to tell the U.S. how to view the conflict, and Zelensky "should be more grateful." The U.S. White House confirmed to the media that the U.S. and Ukraine did not sign a mineral agreement reached earlier this week. Before the meeting between former US President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky in Washington, there was a dispute. However, senior US officials said that Trump did not rule out the possibility of reaching an agreement with Zelensky, but it would depend on Ukraine being ready for constructive dialogue.Individual Stock News Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) and Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) resist the UK's antitrust review of cloud services. Tech giants Microsoft Corporation and Amazon.com, Inc. criticized the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for potentially investigating their cloud software services under new digital antitrust rules. In January of this year, an expert panel advised UK regulators to investigate the cloud products of Microsoft Corporation and Amazon.com, Inc. to verify whether they need to comply with the new rules, which prohibit companies from favoring their own products and services and blocking competitors' products and services. In a regulatory filing released on Friday, Microsoft Corporation stated, "We disagree with much of the expert panel's findings, which is not surprising." The company said that the conclusion of the expert panel does not reflect how the cloud computing market operates in practice. Amazon.com, Inc.'s cloud technology division expressed concern that CMA's decision "only targets two participants in one of the most competitive, well-functioning, and fastest-growing industries in the UK." Eli Lilly (LLY.US) receives European support for chronic lymphocytic leukemia treatment. Eli Lilly announced on Friday that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has recommended expanding the approval of its cancer drug, pirotinibrocetine (Jaypirca), in certain patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The recommendation covers the use of Jaypirca for treating adult patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia who have previously received treatment with a Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor. The pharmaceutical company stated that the European Commission is expected to make a final decision in the next one to two months following the usual process of considering the recommendations of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use. Biogen (BIIB.US) and Eisai reaffirm European regulatory support for their Alzheimer's disease drug. Biogen and Eisai announced on Friday that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has reaffirmed its recommendation to approve their Alzheimer's disease drug, Leqembi (lecanemab). The two companies stated that the European Commission had requested the committee to consider new information on the safety of Leqembi obtained after receiving a positive opinion in November, and the European Commission will resume the decision-making process for the drug's marketing authorization. The committee had asked the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use to consider whether the new information required an update to the positive opinion and whether the wording of risk minimization measures in the opinion was clear enough to ensure proper implementation. Biogen and Eisai stated on Friday that the conclusion reached by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use is that the positive opinion does not need to be updated.