
US stocks slipped from their latest record-setting run on Tuesday, as Wall Street weighed worries over the government shutdown against hopes for AI.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.4%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) also dropped 0.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) decreased 0.7% after fresh record high closes on Wall Street.
Gold (GC=F) futures topped $4,000 per ounce for the first time ever, as investors continue to flock to the safe-haven asset.
The pullback in stocks comes after the S&P and Nasdaq both scored their seventh win in a row on Monday, boosted by news of a multibillion-dollar deal between AMD (AMD) and OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) that sent the chip company’s stock rocketing higher.
Overall, the deal added fuel to the AI-based fire that has powered stocks’ bull market run to record highs. Strategists are once again raising their targets for the S&P 500, though much rests on the upcoming earnings season performance by Big Tech names.
On Tuesday, Oracle (ORCL) stock fell after a report said the profit margin in its cloud computing business was likely lower than many Wall Street forecasts.
Tesla (TSLA) shares also lost steam, ahead of what Wall Street anticipates is the launch of a new Model Y on Tuesday, after teasing the possibility in a series of cryptic posts on social media.
Earnings results will take on even greater prominence than usual for markets during the US government shutdown. The longer the federal stoppage drags on, the more clouded the picture of the economy will become for investors as key data releases dry up, making it hard to divine the path of interest rates.
It has already delayed the September jobs report that was due Friday. Next week’s releases on consumer and producer inflation, crucial to the Federal Reserve’s decision making, could also be postponed.
Meanwhile, a potential crack in the Washington gridlock on a funding bill has emerged, after President Trump signaled he was open to negotiating with Democrats over the healthcare subsidies they want to extend.
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