US Stocks Pause, Gold Rises As Dollar, Treasury Yields Fall: What's Driving Markets Wednesday?

Author: Piero Cingari | December 27, 2023 03:02pm

The U.S. stock market experienced a quiet day on Wednesday, with major indices showing minimal movement amid typical year-end low volume activity. The S&P 500 hovered around 4,777 points, remaining less than one percentage point from its recent all-time highs.

Tech stocks in the Nasdaq 100 paused, while blue-chip and small-cap stocks posted minor gains.

The Invesco DB USD Index Bullish Fund ETF (NYSE:UUP), a measure of the dollar’s performance, fell by 0.6% as Treasury yields continued their downward trend.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped to 3.82%, reaching a new five-month low. Yields on the longer-dated 30-year Treasuries fell below 4% for the first time since late July.

As yields and the dollar weakened, gold prices, as tracked by the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD), found support, with the precious metal rising 0.9% to $2,080 per ounce. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) also showed a positive session, increasing by 1.4% amid optimistic prospects for near-term ETF approval. Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) soared over 6%.

Wednesday’s Performance In US Major Indices, ETFs

Major Indices & ETFs	Price	Change
Dow Jones	37,638.46	+0.2%
Russell 2000	2,063.17	+0.2%
Nasdaq 100	16,885.34	0.0%
S&P 500	4,777.22	0.0%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was flat at $475.61, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA) was 0.2% higher to $375.93 and the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) held steady at $410.75, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Sector-wise, the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLRE) continued to outperform, up by 0.5%, buoyed by declining Treasury yields.

Staples and utilities outperformed, with both the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) up 0.9%.

The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE) was the laggard, down 0.3%, as oil prices inched 1.5% lower.

Among industries, the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) led gains, up 1.7%, while oil services lagged behind, with the VanEck Oil Services ETF (NYSE:OIH) falling 0.4%.

Wednesday’s Stock Movers

• Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) gained 2.4% amid plans to launch a revamped version of Model Y from its Shanghai plant.
• Crypto-related stocks soared: Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) rose 7%, Bit Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:BTBT) rallied 16% and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) was up 12%.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) held steady after a U.S. Court of Appeals temporarily halted an import ban imposed by the U.S. International Trade Commission due to patent infringements on certain models of the company’s smartwatches. Masimo Corp. (NASDAQ:MASI) fell 3%.

Read now: EXCLUSIVE: Gene Munster Predicts 1990s-Like Surge In Tech Stocks, Cautions Against AI’s ‘Bubble-Like’ Environment

Photo via Shutterstock.

Posted In: $BTC $ETH AAPL BTBT COIN DIA GDX GLD JETS MARA MASI OIH QQQ SPY TSLA UUP XLE XLP XLRE XLU