On Monday, Wall Street’s benchmarks climbed after volatile trading overnight, with markets overseas also experiencing a shakeout that included tumbles for Asian stocks. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% and ended a three-day slide, while the Dow gained 515 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.6%, according to AP reporting from New York.
A key driver of the day’s direction was precious metals, where the selloff momentum appeared to be reasserting itself after a rapid run-up. Gold briefly dropped below $4,500 per ounce during the overnight hours, then climbed back above $4,800 before settling at $4,652.60, down 1.9% from Friday. Silver’s swings were even sharper, as its price swung from a 9% loss overnight to a modest gain before returning to a 1.9% decline.
Stocks tied to data storage helped lead the market. Sandisk jumped 15.4% to lead the S&P 500, extending a 6.9% gain from Friday after it reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company attributed demand that was boosted by the artificial-intelligence boom, among other factors.
Meanwhile, other technology names moved in the opposite direction. Nvidia fell 2.9%, and the report said the losses were worse in Asia, where chip company SK Hynix lost nearly 9% and South Korea’s Kospi fell 5.3% from its record for its worst day in almost 10 months. The report also cited declines outside chips, including Walt Disney Co., which fell 7.4% even after reporting stronger profit than analysts expected, while warning about challenges that have kept international visitors away from its U.S. theme parks.
Oil prices fell as well, and that helped support airlines and cruise operators. The report said oil prices dropped more than 4% after President Donald Trump told reporters that Iran is “seriously talking to us,” a development described as potentially signaling improving relations that could keep oil flowing. Carnival rose 8.1% on the day, while United Airlines climbed 4.9%, with the move framed as a potential reprieve for fuel bills.
The broader macro backdrop remained centered on the Federal Reserve’s policy path, which influences markets worldwide through expectations for interest rates. The selloff in gold and silver came after investors had sought safer assets amid worries that included a Federal Reserve that may be set to become less independent, an expensive U.S. stock market, and threats of tariffs alongside government debt loads. Some on Wall Street linked the metals’ reversal to Trump’s nomination of former Fed governor Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, describing how Warsh’s reputation raised expectations that he could keep interest rates high to fight inflation.
Other analysts, however, were skeptical of that first reading and suggested Trump’s expectation could be that Warsh would cut rates, which they said could support the economy in the near term while worsening inflation over time. The report also cited an alternative explanation tied to trading dynamics: it said the metals’ swoons may reflect the return of gravity after prices shot very high very fast, and it quoted Darrell Cronk of Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management as saying the movement was likely more about some traders unwinding borrowed bets than about a wholesale shift in demand for metals.
In the bond market, Treasury yields edged higher after a report said U.S. manufacturing grew last month, when economists expected a contraction. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.28% from 4.26% late Friday after the earlier dip. Such strong figures could influence expectations for the Fed to stay on pause with its interest-rate cuts, with the report also noting that the government was due to update the nation’s unemployment rate on Friday but that report was postponed because of a partial federal government shutdown.
Across global markets, European indexes rose roughly 1% after Asia’s washout. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.3%, while stocks dropped 2.2% in Hong Kong and 2.5% in Shanghai.
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.