Wall Street drifts around its records as gold tops $4,000 per ounce

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting around their records on Tuesday after the price of gold topped $4,000 per ounce for the first time.

The S&P 500 ticked down by 0.1%, coming off its latest all-time high and a seven-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 66 points, or 0.1%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.

The bond market and stock indexes overseas were also making relatively modest moves. Markets are taking a pause following a rush higher for many investments on hopes that the economy will remain resilient and that the Federal Reserve will continue to cut interest rates.

With the U.S. government stuck in another shutdown, several high-profile economic reports have been delayed, such as the monthly update on the job market. Without those reports, which often move the market, some strategists say Wall Street could remain in its upward trend for a while.

One of the biggest trends guiding Wall Street has been the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, which has vaulted the market to record after record but also raised worries that prices have potentially shot too high.

IBM rose 4% after announcing a partnership that will integrate Anthropic’s Claude AI chatbot into some of its software products. Dell climbed 2% after executives talked up the company’s opportunity for growth because of AI at a conference with investors and analysts. Advanced Micro Devices rallied another 4.5%, adding to its surge from the day before when it announced a deal where OpenAI will use its chips to power AI infrastructure.

Much is riding on expectations that the AI investment boom will pay off, make the global economy more productive and drive more growth. Without that increased efficiency, inflation could push higher due to upward pressure coming from the mountains of debt that the U.S. and other governments worldwide are building.

That has optimists on Wall Street buying tech stocks and pessimists buying gold, according to Thierry Wizman, a strategist at Macquarie Group.

Investors have traditionally seen gold as offering protection from high inflation. Its price has soared more than 50% this year not only because of governments’ huge debt loads but also because of political instability worldwide and expectations for lower interest rates from the Fed.

Investors looking to “hedge” themselves, meanwhile, may be buying both tech stocks and gold, Wizman wrote in a research report.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Constellation Brands climbed 1.9% after the beer and wine company reported results for the latest quarter that several analysts said were better than they expected. Sales of beer still dropped from a year earlier, though, as CEO Bill Newlands highlighted a “challenging socioeconomic environment that has dampened consumer demand.”

Intercontinental Exchange, the company behind the New York Stock Exchange, added 0.8% after saying it had agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Polymarket.