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Stocks were off their best levels of the session in the final half-hour of trade, but that was not by enough to stop the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average from sealing another record finish.
The Dow was up about 343 points, or 0.9%, trading near 41,431, according to FactSet data.
If that level holds, it would eclipse its prior 41,250.50 record finish on Aug. 27, 2024, putting the index on pace for its 25th record close of the year, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Multiple factors have helped to drive gold higher “during this stealth bull phase,” Peter Spina, founder and president of investor website GoldSeek.com, told MarketWatch.
“Geopolitical issues remain dominant, a move to de-dollarize along with the Western gold investor flipping from selling mode into buying mode last month,” he said. “Central banks to individuals are loading up on a store of safety during uncertain times.”
Gold for December delivery climbed $22.50, or 0.9%, to settle at $2,560.30 an ounce on Comex, after trading as high as $2,562.20.
The U.S. dollar remains the world’s dominant currency, overcoming nearly constant hand wringing over its potential demise. And it’s resilience may be despite, rather than a result of, actions by U.S. officials, a London-based currency strategist argued Thursday.
Most policy makers consider preserving the value of their currencies to be an important consideration, said Steven Barrow, head of G-10 strategy at Standard Bank, in a note. “To many it can become the paramount consideration when times are tough.”
But among U.S. policy makers, Barrow said, “it seems that there is a death wish when it comes to the dollar.”
Barrow laid out a number of “self-destructive” actions — including protectionism, using the dollar as a weapon to punish others, a lack of budget discipline, and a reticence to embrace a central-bank digital currency, or CBDC.
The U.S. stock market’s real-estate sector was falling Thursday afternoon, but remained on track to book a monthly gain.
The S&P 500’s real-estate sector was down 0.6% in afternoon trading, trimming its August rise to around 4.4%, FactSet data show, at last check. Real-estate stocks in the index were broadly on track to rise for a fourth straight month, which would mark the sector’s longest monthly winning streak since the stretch ending in August 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The S&P 500 index was slipping 0.1% Thursday afternoon, FactSet data show, at last check.
The S&P 500 joined the Nasdaq Composite in negative territory, losing a grip on earlier gains ahead of the final hour of trade.
The Nasdaq was off 0.2%, at last check, while the S&P 500 was less than 0.1% lower.
However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was still on pace for gains, up 228 points, or 0.6%, near 41,323.
Affirm’s stock was up 31.9% in afternoon trading Thursday and roaring toward its best day in three years after what management and analysts described as a “killer quarter.”
Thursday’s gain could be the best one-day percentage move for the buy-now-pay-later company’s shares since they rose 34.4% on Sept. 10, 2021.
The latest report offered a glimpse ahead at what Mizuho’s Dan Dolev said would constitute a “major milestone.” Affirm sees a pathway to GAAP operating profit in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025.
“Other key metrics are strong yet still conservative as they do not include material contribution from Apple Pay BNPL,” Dolev wrote.
U.S. stocks were trimming earlier gains in afternoon trade.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 250 points, or 0.6%, trading near 41,352, after trading as high as 41,577.97, according to FactSet.
The S&P 500 was 0.1% higher
The Nasdaq was struggling for direction around 17,539
Shares of videogame retailer and original meme stock GameStop Corp. surged 10% Thursday, putting the stock on pace for its biggest gain since June 13, when it rose 14.4%, Dow Jones Market Data show.
In an SEC filing Tuesday, GameStop said it had voluntarily terminated a $250 million credit agreement that the company entered in November 2021. “The termination is effective as of August 27, 2024,” GameStop said in the filing. “After giving effect to the termination, the company’s principal sources of liquidity will be cash from operations and cash on hand.”
Demand for $44 billion in newly issued Treasurys came in weak on Thursday, according to an analyst at BMO.
As a result, notes sold at auction were purchased at a discount. An analyst from BMO said the newly issued 7-year notes had a “tail” of 0.9 basis points — meaning their yields were 0.9 basis points higher than their secondary-market counterparts at the time of the auction. Bond yields move inversely to prices — rising as prices fall, and vice versa.
The bid-to-cover ratio was also a bit softer than average, coming in at 2.5x compared with an average of 2.55x, which also reflected weak demand.
Demand was more robust during auctions of 2-year and 5-year notes held earlier this week.
Treasury yields remained higher on the day after the auction. The 10-year yield was up 3 basis points at 3.869%, while the 7-year note had gained 3 basis points at 3.766%.
Enthusiasm for stocks that provide the technology to power artificial intelligence remains in play, but other stocks on Thursday also appeared to benefit from the resilience of the U.S. economy.
“By and large the AI-tech play is still intact,” said Charlie Ripley, vice president of portfolio management at Allianz Investment Management, in a phone interview on Thursday.
“But we also are seeing a more broad-based rally,” he said. “This goes with the theme that the economy isn’t slowing as much as expected.”
The S&P 500 index was up 0.8% on Thursday, while its equal-weight version, which put each stock in the market-cap-weighted S&P 500 on equal footing, was 0.9% higher, according to FactSet.
