US stock indices closed trading on Monday, February 2, with confident growth, overcoming the negative dynamics of previous days. While Wall Street showed positive activity, precious metals markets experienced a real shock: gold and silver prices continued their sharp decline after last week's record highs. This was reported by AP, writes UNN.
Details
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 index added 0.5%, breaking a three-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 515 points (1.1%), and the technology-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.6%.
The market was driven by computer storage and semiconductor manufacturers, particularly SanDisk and Western Digital, whose shares soared amid positive earnings reports and stable demand for artificial intelligence solutions. In addition, falling oil prices supported the quotes of airlines and cruise operators.
Precious Metals Market Collapse
The main event in the financial markets was the collapse in the value of precious metals, which occurred after an almost doubling of the price of gold over the past 12 months. During overnight trading, the price of gold briefly fell below $4,500 per ounce – $1,000 less than last week's peak. Although quotes subsequently partially recovered to $4,652.60, the decline relative to Friday was 1.9%.
Silver showed even greater volatility: during one session, the price fluctuated from a 9% drop to a moderate increase, eventually recording a 1.9% decrease. Analysts attribute this "metal collapse" to Kevin Warsh's nomination for Fed chairman, which strengthened expectations of tighter monetary policy and strengthened the US dollar.
Gold and silver continued to fall after the collapse02.02.26, 17:43