U.S. stocks recover as gold and silver surge

American stock indices rose on Monday, while movements were more pronounced in other markets, including a new record jump in gold prices.

The S&P 500 increased by about 0.7%, recovering losses from last week’s decline. The Dow Jones rose approximately 325 points, or 0.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq also gained around 0.7%.

Among the better-performing companies was Baker Hughes, whose shares climbed about 5% following stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings. The company reported strong demand for liquefied natural gas, supporting its results.

Shares of CoreWeave surged over 7% after Nvidia announced a $2 billion investment to help accelerate the company’s AI infrastructure build-out through 2030. Nvidia, in turn, fell about 0.6%.

USA Rare Earth rose nearly 13% after announcing that the U.S. government would invest $277 million to support the production of heavy rare earth elements, minerals, and magnets. The Trump administration also approved a $1.3 billion loan, while the company separately raised $1.5 billion from private investors.

Much of the rest of the market remained relatively calm. Airlines experienced mixed movements after being forced to cancel thousands of flights over the weekend due to a winter storm in the U.S. Delta Air Lines shares slipped slightly, while Southwest Airlines shares remained largely unchanged.

Stronger moves were seen in precious metals. Gold prices rose over 2%, briefly surpassing $5,100 per ounce to set a new all-time record. Silver recorded an even sharper gain of around 14%.

Precious metal prices continued to rise as investors sought safer assets amid threats of new tariffs, persistently high inflation, political tensions, and rising global government debt. These concerns were compounded by President Trump’s latest threat to impose a 100% tariff on Canadian goods if the country signs a free trade agreement with China.

The U.S. dollar continued to weaken against major currencies. While last week’s tensions over potential Greenland-related tariffs diverted investors from the dollar, the focus is now on the sharp appreciation of the Japanese yen. Markets are anticipating possible intervention by authorities in Japan and the U.S. to support the yen.

The coming week is shaping up to be crucial for markets. The Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision on Wednesday. Expectations are that the central bank will keep rates unchanged, as inflation remains above the 2% target and further cuts could exacerbate it. Investors will closely monitor comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell following the decision.

At the same time, some of Wall Street’s largest and most influential companies will release earnings reports. Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Tesla are set to report on Wednesday, with Apple following on Thursday.

On the bond market, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell to around 4.21%.

Internationally, market movements were mixed. European indices were largely flat amid moderate trading, while declines were more pronounced in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped about 1.8% as the stronger yen pressured exporters. Toyota Motor shares fell more than 4%.

-Source: Bloomberg Terminal