Home Stocks Stocks Start February Strong as Markets Look Past Gold and Silver Rout

Stocks Start February Strong as Markets Look Past Gold and Silver Rout

1
0

Please paraphrase the following text optimized for good yoast SEO readability, giving me also at the end in a new paragraph tags for my wordpress article separated by commas. Limit the tags to only a max 7 essential ones:

U.S. stocks advanced on Monday as heavy losses in gold and silver began to ease, helping lift investor sentiment ahead of a busy week packed with major earnings reports and key economic data releases.

By 10:15 ET (15:15 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6% at 49,194, the S&P 500 gained 0.5% to 6,973, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7% to 23,624.

Sentiment improves as precious metals stabilize

Market sentiment had been under pressure late last week following a sharp selloff in gold and silver, driven by a stronger U.S. dollar and widespread profit-taking after months of strong gains in precious metals.

After plunging nearly 10% on Friday, spot gold extended its decline early Monday, falling well below the $5,000 level it had surpassed just days earlier. However, prices quickly recovered some ground. Silver, which had been heavily supported by speculative demand and its industrial uses, also stabilized and edged higher.

Silver suffered a 30% collapse on Friday, marking its worst single-day performance since March 1980.

The selloff was exacerbated by the nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, a move that boosted the U.S. dollar. While Warsh has aligned with Donald Trump on calls for lower interest rates, he has also been critical of the Fed’s asset-buying programs.

Analysts at Vital Knowledge said the central debate remains centered on the Fed’s balance sheet, noting that a potential reduction or restructuring of asset holdings could tighten financial conditions even if interest rates are cut.

Attention now turns to upcoming U.S. economic data, particularly Friday’s January employment report, which is expected to show steady job growth and an unchanged unemployment rate.

Disney kicks off a busy earnings week

Earnings season continues at pace, with Walt Disney reporting results earlier Monday that beat both revenue and profit expectations for the holiday quarter, supported by strong performance from its theme parks and cruise businesses.

Disney is also expected to name a new chief executive later this year to succeed Bob Iger, with industry speculation pointing to Josh D’Amaro as a leading candidate.

More than 100 S&P 500 companies are scheduled to report earnings this week, including tech heavyweights Amazon and Alphabet.

Investor focus on artificial intelligence spending remains intense after Microsoft last week reported solid revenue growth but failed to fully reassure markets about the near-term returns from its heavy AI investments. Adding to concerns, a report from The Wall Street Journal said Nvidia has paused a proposed investment of up to $100 billion in OpenAI due to internal concerns.

Separately, Oracle said it plans to raise $45–$50 billion in 2026 to fund expansion of its AI and cloud infrastructure, citing rising demand for computing capacity.

Oil prices slide as Iran tensions ease

Oil prices dropped sharply on Monday after geopolitical risks in the Middle East eased. Brent crude fell 4.4% to $66.28 a barrel, while U.S. WTI crude declined 4.5% to $62.30 a barrel.

Crude had surged last week amid fears of potential U.S. military action against Iran. However, prices retreated after Trump said over the weekend that Iran was “seriously talking” with Washington, reducing the perceived risk of supply disruptions.

Meanwhile, OPEC+ kept oil output unchanged at a weekend meeting, in line with market expectations.