U.S. stocks finished in different directions on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49%, marking its third consecutive record close and its 24th record close of the year. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.83%, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.17% as weakness in technology shares weighed on broader sentiment.
Gold jumps more than 4.2% and breaks above $4,300
Gold posted the strongest move of the session. Spot gold surged more than 4.2%, its biggest one-day gain in five months, moved back above its 50-day moving average, and broke through $4,300 per ounce early Thursday, the first time since June 18.
Bloomberg analyst Cameron Crise said gold would have been expected to edge lower under traditional driver models, yet instead delivered the largest model-outside outperformance in the past decade. He attributed the move to concentrated CTA trend-fund short covering around the key $4,200 level, along with a vacuum in the buy-side structure after managed funds had been reducing long exposure.
World Gold Council data showed that global central banks recorded a record level of net gold buying in the second quarter. Poland bought 51 tons, the People’s Bank of China added 33 tons, and South Korea returned to the market for the first time in 13 years. The report said those purchases helped build a firm floor under prices. Silver also rallied, and stocks tied to gold and silver broadly gained about 7%.
Oil trades narrowly as markets watch Hormuz negotiations
Oil moved only modestly as geopolitical tensions showed signs of easing. Iran and Oman are in final talks over a new shipping arrangement for the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the report, Iran’s vice foreign minister said the new plan would redesign shipping lanes, with most routes passing through Iranian territorial waters, and that Tehran would reject outside involvement. Major differences remain over fees. Iran has proposed charges of 5% to 7% of cargo value, while the U.S. opposes any fee structure. Iran also said reopening the strait depends on the U.S. ending sanctions and military pressure, leaving further progress tied to U.S.-Iran relations.
At the same time, Trump expressed strong dissatisfaction with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth because U.S. stockpiles of long-range guided missiles and air-defense interceptors, including ATACMS, were said to be close to exhaustion. The report said that shortage had directly constrained Washington’s military options on Iran.
September rate-hike odds fall, Fed officials keep a hawkish line
Driven by the latest data and geopolitical developments, market-implied odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike in September dropped from nearly 70% to about 54.9%.
Fed officials still sounded firm. Fed Governor Cook and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari both warned that they were prepared to raise rates again if inflation failed to slow.
AI trade cools as Nvidia extends winning streak
The AI-led trade that had powered the Nasdaq higher lost momentum. The Magnificent Seven index edged lower on Wednesday.
Nvidia climbed 3.43%, leading the group and extending its winning streak to five sessions while reaching its highest level in nearly two months. Its market capitalization approached $5.8 trillion. Micron also ended slightly higher and rejoined the trillion-dollar market-cap club. By contrast, AMD dropped more than 7%, SpaceX fell nearly 14%, and Google lost more than 4%, dragging on both the Nasdaq and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which fell 1.4%.
Leadership changes inside Google’s AI division became a key market focus. DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis moved into a chairman role and also became Alphabet’s chief scientist, while CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu took over day-to-day operations. Jeff Dean, Alphabet’s chief scientist for 27 years, left to start a new venture with three top scientists focused on automated scientific research. Delays around the flagship Gemini release added to investor concerns that Google is falling behind OpenAI and Anthropic.
Among other major technology names, Apple rose 0.52% on strong iPhone build plans, Meta added 0.14%, Microsoft fell 1.09%, and Amazon lost 1.72%.
Solar, storage and optical names weaken while healthcare and e-commerce rise
Storage, optical communication, and solar shares came under broad pressure, while gold miners and healthcare stocks outperformed.
SolarEdge reported revenue and adjusted earnings per share ahead of expectations and returned to positive free cash flow, but it still posted a GAAP net loss and issued soft third-quarter guidance. Its shares plunged more than 30%.
Eli Lilly raised its full-year guidance, climbed nearly 5% on strong demand for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, and helped lead the healthcare sector higher. Shopify jumped nearly 17% after second-quarter revenue grew 34% and third-quarter guidance came in above market expectations.
SpaceX, AMD, Circle and mining shares show sharp divergence
SpaceX fell about 13.6%. In its first quarterly report since listing, revenue nearly doubled and losses narrowed, with Starlink and AI showing strong momentum. Still, capital expenditure jumped sixfold to $18.4 billion, mainly for AI, raising questions about sustainability. Goldman Sachs said SpaceX’s differentiated edge in space and AI remains intact despite sharp short-term volatility. Deutsche Bank cut its price target to $235, while JPMorgan raised its target to $240 and kept an overweight rating.
Space communications and tower names also came under pressure. American Tower, Crown Castle, and SBA Communications fell 5% to 7%, while AT&T and Verizon each declined about 2%.
AMD fell more than 7%. Its quarterly revenue outlook topped expectations and data center revenue doubled, but that still failed to satisfy elevated expectations for AI accelerator cards and server CPU share. The report also said Elon Musk confirmed that he uses only Nvidia chips, adding to the negative mood.
Circle edged up 0.05%. Second-quarter revenue came in at $701 million, below the expected $717 million, while net income reached $48 million, 8% above expectations. Average USDC circulation increased, but end-of-quarter circulation declined 4.8% from the prior quarter.
Gold and silver mining stocks rallied sharply. Agnico Eagle rose 9.89%, Kinross Gold gained 8.89%, AngloGold climbed 8.72%, Barrick added 7.46%, Pan American Silver rose 7.41%, Newmont gained 6.69%, and Royal Gold advanced 4.40%.
SanDisk and Western Digital fall after hours despite strong results
SanDisk and Western Digital both delivered solid reported numbers, but their next-quarter guidance failed to satisfy lofty expectations tied to the AI storage cycle, sending both stocks lower after the close.
SanDisk fell 5.40% in regular trading and more than 8% in late trading. Fourth-quarter revenue was $8.97 billion, up 372% year over year, while adjusted EPS reached $39.25. Full-year revenue totaled $20.25 billion, up 175%, and the company also announced a new $14 billion buyback plan. Investors focused on the outlook instead: fiscal 2027 first-quarter revenue guidance of $10.3 billion to $10.8 billion came in below the analyst consensus of $11.16 billion.
Western Digital fell 5.36% and dropped about 12% after hours. Fourth-quarter revenue was $3.75 billion, up 44% year over year, and non-GAAP EPS came in at $3.56. The company projected about $4.1 billion in revenue at the midpoint for the next quarter and non-GAAP EPS of about $4.00. Results were steady, but the market was disappointed by the elasticity of the guidance after expectations around AI storage had run too high.
AppLovin at one point sank more than 25% after hours. Second-quarter revenue was $1.92 billion, slightly below expectations, and management acknowledged that the pace of AI model upgrades had slowed. The report said market tolerance for misses in AI monetization has fallen sharply.
What markets are watching next
- On Thursday, August 6, about $116 billion in insider-held SpaceX shares is scheduled to become tradable. The report described it as the largest unlock wave on record and said it could increase short-term selling pressure while testing demand for AI-related capital spending. Markets are also watching for updates tied to Musk’s Grok, with timing still unspecified.
- At 20:30 on August 6, the U.S. will release weekly initial jobless claims for the week ended August 1. The market expects 205,000, versus a prior reading of 197,000. If claims rise, the report said that would add to evidence of labor-market cooling, weighing on Treasury yields and the dollar while supporting gold and growth-stock valuations. Stronger data could weaken the follow-through in gold after the short squeeze.
- On August 7, investors will watch earnings from crypto miners CleanSpark and MARA, along with Datadog, D-Wave Quantum, ConocoPhillips, Unity, AAOI, MP Materials, Atlassian, Rigetti, MGM China, and Zai Lab.