U.S. stocks climb as gold and silver prices keep falling

Trader Richard Cohen works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

U.S. stocks rose on Monday following sharp swings that shook financial markets overnight, including tumbles for Asian stocks. Gold and silver prices sank further following their latest wild moves.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 added 0.5 per cent and snapped a three-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 515 points, or 1.1 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6 per cent.

Stocks of companies that make computer storage helped lead the market, adding to gains from last week following several profit reports that topped analysts’ expectations. Airlines and cruise-ship operators were also strong, benefiting from a sharp easing of oil prices.

The center of action in financial markets was again precious metals, where momentum has suddenly halted after gold’s price roughly doubled in just 12 months.

Gold briefly dropped below US$4,500 per ounce in the overnight hours, down more than US$1,000 from its high point reached just last week. It then climbed back above US$4,800 before settling at US$4,652.60, down 1.9 per cent from Friday.

Silver’s price has been on an even wilder ride recently, and it swung from a 9 per cent loss overnight to a modest gain and back to a loss of 1.9 per cent.

Gold and silver prices had surged as investors looked for safer things to own amid a wide range of worries, including a Federal Reserve that may be set to become less independent, a U.S. stock market that critics say is expensive, threats of tariffs and heavy debt loads for governments worldwide.

Their prices cratered on Friday, including a 31.4 per cent plunge for silver. Some on Wall Street saw it as a result of President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Fed. Warsh’s reputation as a former Fed governor may have raised expectations that he may keep interest rates high to fight inflation, which would reduce the need to hide out in gold and silver for protection.

But many on Wall Street are also skeptical of that initial reading and say the expectation from Trump is likely that Warsh will cut interest rates, something the president has been demanding. That could give the economy a boost but also worsen inflation over the long term.

The Fed’s chair has a big influence on the economy and markets worldwide by helping to dictate where the U.S. central bank moves interest rates. That affects prices for all kinds of investments, as the Fed tries to keep the U.S. job market humming without letting inflation get out of control.

The recent swoons for gold and silver may also simply mark the return of gravity for two investments whose price shot very high, very fast. They’re likely more about the washout for some traders who had borrowed money to bet on metals’ prices continuing to soar, rather than about a wholesale change in expectations for demand for metals, according to Darrell Cronk, chief investment officer for Wealth & Investment Management at Wells Fargo.

On Wall Street, Sandisk leaped 15.4 per cent to lead the S&P 500. The data-storage company added to its 6.9 per cent gain from Friday, after it reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It credited demand created by the artificial-intelligence boom, among other things.

That helped offset a 2.9 per cent drop for Nvidia, whose chips are powering much of the world’s move into AI technology. The losses were worse in Asia, where AI winners plunged. South Korea’s Kospi fell 5.3 per cent from its record for its worst day in almost 10 months after chip company SK Hynix lost nearly 9 per cent.

The Walt Disney Co. fell 7.4 per cent even though the entertainment giant reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It warned of challenges that are keeping international visitors away from its U.S. theme parks, among other things.

Oil prices dropped more than 4 per cent after Trump told reporters that Iran is “seriously talking to us.” It’s a potential signal of improving relations between the two countries, which could keep oil flowing easily around the world.

The drop in oil prices could mean less painful fuel bills for airlines and cruise ships. That helped Carnival steam 8.1 per cent higher, and United Airlines climb 4.9 per cent.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 37.41 points to 6,976.44 and finished just shy of its record set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 515.19 to 49,407.66, and the Nasdaq composite gained 130.29 to 23,592.11.

In the bond market, Treasury yields edged higher after a report said that U.S. manufacturing grew last month, when economists were expecting a contraction. The yield on the 10-year Treasury erased an earlier dip and rose to 4.28 per cent, up from 4.26 per cent late Friday.

Such strong figures could persuade the Federal Reserve to stay on pause with its cuts to interest rates. The next big set of data that could sway the Fed was supposed to come on Friday, when the U.S. government was due to update the nation’s unemployment rate. But that report has been postponed because of the partial federal government shutdown.

In stock markets abroad, European indexes rose roughly 1 per cent following a washout in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.3 per cent, while stocks fell 2.2 per cent in Hong Kong and 2.5 per cent in Shanghai.

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Stan Choe, The Associated Press. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.