Gold hits new all-time high of $4,999 as silver smashes $100

Stocks traded mixed midday Friday as investors digested earnings and news out of the tech sector. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hovered around the flatline, while the Dow fell 247 points, or 0.5%, dragged by a 2% drop in Goldman Sachs.

Chip stocks diverged sharply. Nvidia jumped over 2% and AMD gained more than 3%, following reports that Jensen Huang is set to visit China soon. But Intel cratered 14% after issuing a disappointing Q1 outlook, triggering a sell-off.

Markets had started to rebound Wednesday after President Donald Trump scrapped planned tariffs on imports from eight European countries, which were due to begin Feb. 1.

Trump said the move followed a “framework of a future deal” struck with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte involving Greenland.

In crypto, Bitcoin was last trading at $89,006, slightly lower on the day. Across major coins, ETH fell 1.35% to $2,910, SOL dropped 1.88% to $126.08, XRP dipped 1.25% to $1.89, and DOGE slipped 1.29% to $0.12287. BNB was one of the few gainers, up 0.45% to $887.40.

24-hour volumes were mixed. Bitcoin’s was $59.79B, Ethereum’s $39.31B, and Solana’s $7.62B. Most tokens posted double-digit weekly declines in open interest, led by BTC and ETH at -33.21% and -34.59%, respectively.

European markets traded lower on Friday, with investors reacting to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s sharp speech at Davos and tracking Asia-Pacific political and rate decisions.

By midafternoon in London, the Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.23%, trading at 607.44. France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.26% to 8,127.82, Italy’s FTSE MIB dropped 0.77% to 44,743.42, and Spain’s IBEX 35 fell 0.75% to 17,530.70. Germany’s DAX was flat at 24,858.10, up just 0.01%, while the UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.05% to 10,155.04.

In Asia, all eyes were on Japan after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi dissolved the Lower House ahead of a snap election set for February 8.

The Bank of Japan held its key rate at 0.75%, as expected. Yields on Japan’s 40-year bond slid over 4 basis points to 3.953%, while 10-year yields rose to 2.259% and 20-year yields ticked up to 3.204%.

Japan’s December headline inflation slowed to 2.1%, the lowest since March 2022. Core inflation came in at 2.4%, matching forecasts.

The yen briefly weakened to 159 per dollar before bouncing to 157.3, according to LSEG.

Markets across Asia were mostly green. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up 0.29% at 53,846.87, and the Topix rose 0.37% to 3,629.7.

South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.76%, hitting 4,990.07, while the Kosdaq surged 2.43% to 993.93. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.45% to 26,749.51, Shanghai added 0.33%, and Australia’s ASX 200 rose 0.13% to 8,860.10.

India’s Nifty 50 was the laggard, dropping 0.95% to 25,048.65.