Energy and Defense Stocks Rise After Capture of Venezuelan President

Stock futures are showing modest gains as the first full trading week of 2026. Energy and defense stocks have been among the early leaders after a dramatic weekend in geopolitics. The United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and traders appear to be pricing in potential long-term implications for U.S. oil access and defense spending, even as oil prices themselves have been mixed.The geopolitical shock has added a dose of uncertainty but has not triggered broad market panic. Instead, some investors are seeing it as a catalyst for sector rotation. Major U.S. oil companies and energy services firms are outperforming, while safe-haven assets like gold have jumped to multi-week highs as uncertainty rises. Precious metals are drawing renewed interest, with gold climbing over 2 % to the highest level in about a week, reflecting traditional haven demand as geopolitical risk reenters the market picture.At the same time, the U.S. dollar has strengthened against major currencies as traders look past weekend developments toward a busy week of economic data including employment and manufacturing reports that could reshape the outlook for Federal Reserve policy in 2026.In pre-market trading, S&P 500 futures rose 0.24%, Nasdaq futures rose 0.63% and Dow futures fell 0.02%.Check out this morning's top movers from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.HIGHER -Incyteup 3% after reporting its frontMIND trial met primary and secondary endpointsQXOup 2% after $1.2B convertible equity investment led by Apollo GlobalUP AFTER CAPTURE OF VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT NICOLAS MADURO -Halliburtonup 8%Baker Hughesup 5%Chevronup 6%Exxon Mobilup 3%LOWER -Mayville Engineeringdown 1% after Northland downgraded the stock to Market Perform with an unchanged price target of $20Euronetdown 1% after Monness Crespi downgraded shares to Neutral