Nasdaq hits record high for gold amid cautious remarks from the Federal Reserve
Gains in chips led the three largest U.S. stock indexes, the technology-focused Nasdaq ahead of Nvidia Corp’s expected earnings report on Wednesday.
The S&P 500 closed slightly higher, while the blue-chip Dow fell below 40,000 after closing above 40,000 for the first time on Friday.
“The Nasdaq is led by Nvidia, but otherwise it’s a bit stagnant,” said Jay Hatfield, portfolio manager at InfraCap in New York. “The S&P 500 is 11% above its 200-day moving average, which is significantly extended.”
“We are in a range-bound market and Nvidia will dominate global stock trading this week.” Comments from Fed officials reflect the U.S. central bank’s cautious view on progress in curbing inflation and the timing of interest rate cuts. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Philip Jefferson said Monday it was too early to tell whether the inflation slowdown would be “long-lasting,” while Vice Chairman Michael Barr said restrictive policies needed more time. Atlanta Federal Reserve President Rafael Bostic said “it will take some time” for the central bank to be confident that inflation is on a sustainable decline. “The market is irrational. We were expecting six rate cuts this year, but then the trend shifted in the complete opposite direction and everyone was talking about rate hikes,” Hatfield added.
“If it’s clear that the next step is going to be a cut and that’s going to happen sometime this year, we’ll probably go to a higher level.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 39,806.77, down 196.82 points (0.49%), the S&P 500 up 4.86 points (0.09%) at 5,308.13, and the Nasdaq Composite Index up 108.91 points (0.65%) at 16,794.87.
European stocks rose slightly due to interest rate uncertainty.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.18% and MSCI’s index of global stocks rose 0.11%.
Emerging market stocks rose 0.16%. The MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan closed 0.19% higher, and Japan’s Nikkei index rose 0.73%.
U.S. Treasury yields rose slightly after Federal Reserve officials expressed uncertainty about the timing of interest rate cuts.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 7/32 in price from 4.42% on Friday to yield 4.4453%.
The 30-year Treasury note was last down 11/32 in price, yielding 4.5816% from 4.561% late Friday.
The dollar rose slightly against a basket of world currencies as investors awaited further clues on the path of interest rates.
The dollar index rose 0.15%, while the euro fell 0.11% to $1.0858.
The Japanese yen was down 0.39% against the dollar at 156.30 per dollar, and sterling was last traded at $1.2702, up 0.02% on the day.
Crude oil prices were steady as investors weighed hawkish Federal Reserve comments against signs that inflation is cooling.
On this day, U.S. crude oil closed at $79.80 per barrel, down 0.32%, and Brent crude oil closed at $83.71 per barrel, down 0.32%.
Gold hit a record high on the back of encouraging inflation data last week, while silver hit an 11-year high.
Copper, a barometer of economic sentiment, hit a record high after China announced measures to bolster its beleaguered real estate sector.
Spot gold rose 0.4% to $2,424.69 an ounce.
Copper rose 2.97% to $10,985.00 per tonne.
