NEW YORK :Gold prices declined again on Wednesday, a day after spot gold had its sharpest single-day drop in over five years, while major stock indexes mostly eased with Netflix shares down after the company’s outlook disappointed.
Gold, one of the year’s best-performing trades, slid as investors booked profits. It remains on course for its strongest year since the 1979 oil crisis and is up more than 50 per cent so far this year. Spot gold was last down 1.73 per cent at $4,052.69 an ounce.
Shares of Netflix were down more than 9 per cent in early trading, and Wall Street’s three major indexes also were lower. Investors are getting ready for results later from Tesla, which will kick off earnings season for the so-called Magnificent Seven group of megacap stocks. Tesla shares were down about 1 per cent.
“We’ve seen a lot of volatility in the markets lately. It’s both on the upside and on the downside, and that shows a degree of uncertainty in the market,” said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York. “We are in earnings season, and that always means uncertainty,” he said. “Tariff issues are still out there. War in the Middle East is still out there as an issue. We try to focus on companies themselves and how they are doing.”
Russia said on Wednesday that it was still preparing for a potential summit between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 118.69 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 46,806.05, the S&P 500 fell 22.73 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 6,713.39 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 165.07 points, or 0.70 per cent, to 22,791.98.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 2.63 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 992.22. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.07 per cent.
London stocks rose for a third consecutive day as investors increased bets on interest rate cuts from the Bank of England after data showed inflation unexpectedly held steady. The blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 1.1 per cent.
U.S. Treasury yields edged higher after falling for two straight sessions, though the market was range-bound as the U.S. government shutdown went into its 22nd day with no resolution in sight. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 1.1 basis points to 3.974 per cent, from 3.963 per cent late on Tuesday.
The U.S. Federal Reserve also meets next week, and investors have almost fully priced in a 25-basis-point rate cut.
The dearth of U.S. economic data due to the ongoing shutdown means that policymakers could be left flying blind at the meeting, a less-than-ideal situation as they remain divided over which risks deserve the most attention. Trump on Tuesday rebuffed a request by top Democratic lawmakers to meet until the three-week-old U.S. government shutdown ends.
The yen was little changed against the dollar. Sources told Reuters that new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is preparing an economic stimulus package likely to exceed last year’s 13.9 trillion yen ($92.19 billion) to help households tackle inflation.
The Bank of Japan also meets next week, where expectations are for the central bank – like the ECB in Europe – to stand pat on rates.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.01 per cent to 98.96, with the euro up 0.01 per cent at $1.16. Against the yen, the dollar strengthened 0.01 per cent to 151.94.
Oil prices rose, with U.S. crude up 2.45 per cent at $58.64 a barrel and Brent at $62.64 per barrel, up 2.15 per cent on the day.
