Stan Choe
The US stock market is losing ground amid mixed trading, while gold and silver bounce back from their latest sell-off.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.9 per cent and fell further from its all-time high set last week, even though the majority of stocks within the index rose. The Dow Jones was down 189 points, or 0.4 per cent, as and the Nasdaq composite was 1.6 per cent lower.
The Australian sharemarket is set to decline, with futures at 5.02am AEDT pointing to a fall of 59 points, or 0.7 per cent, at the open. The ASX added 0.9 per cent on Tuesday, while the RBA raised rates for the first time in more than two years. The Australian dollar was stronger at US70.12¢ at5.17am AEDT.
Several influential Big Tech stocks weighed on the market, including drops of 3.3 per cent for Nvidia and 2.9 per cent for Microsoft. They helped drown out a 6.5 per cent climb for Palantir Technologies, which reported bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its forecast for 61 per cent growth in revenue this year also topped analysts’ expectations.
The action was stronger, again, in metals markets. Gold’s price climbed 6.8 per cent to $US4970.40 per ounce in its latest swing since its jaw-dropping rally suddenly halted last week. Silver’s price, which has been whipping through even wilder moves, leaped 11.6 per cent.
Gold and silver prices had been climbing for more than a year as investors looked for safer places to park their cash amid worries about everything from tariffs to a weaker US dollar to heavy debt loads for governments worldwide. Their prices took off in particular last month, and gold’s price at one point had roughly doubled over 12 months.
But those rallies suddenly gave out last week, and gold’s price dropped from close to $US5600 to less than $US4500 on Monday. Silver plunged 31.4 per cent on Friday alone.
Many traders say expectations that President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates high to fight inflation were what turned the momentum initially, though some disagree. Most agree that simple gravity took over afterward.
After gold and silver prices had shot up so much, so quickly, they were bound to fall back at some point, particularly with so many investors piling in to use gold as a way to bet on continued weakness for the US dollar.
“The move underscored how stretched anti-USD positioning had become,” according to volatility strategists at Barclays.
On Wall Street, PayPal dropped 19.7 per cent after reporting weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also named a new CEO after it said “the pace of change and execution” over the last two years “was not in line” with the board of directors’ expectations.
Pfizer fell 3.5 per cent even though it reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The pharmaceutical company gave a forecasted range for profit in 2026 whose midpoint was below analysts’ expectations.
The Walt Disney Co. slipped 0.6 per cent after it said Josh D’Amaro, head of the company’s parks business, will become its next CEO in March.
On the winning side of the market was PepsiCo, which rose 3.2 per cent after the snack and beverage giant’s profit and revenue for the latest quarter nudged past analysts’ expectations. It also said it would cut prices this year on Lay’s, Doritos and other snacks to try and win back inflation-weary customers.
DaVita rallied 20.3 per cent after the provider of dialysis and other health care services likewise delivered a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.29 per cent, where it was late Monday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes bounced back in Asia from sharp losses the prior day.
South Korea’s Kospi surged 6.8 per cent for its best day since the wild days of the COVID crash and recovery in early 2020. Just a day earlier, it had tumbled 5.3 per cent from its record for its worst day in almost 10 months. The Kospi is home to many tech stocks, including Samsung Electronics, which surged 11.4 per cent.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 3.9 per cent, while stocks rose 1.3 per cent in Shanghai and 0.2 per cent in Hong Kong.
Indexes were mixed in Europe.
AP
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