Nasdaq futures indicated a significant upward movement, while gold approached its historical peak as the final full trading week of the year commenced. Futures linked to the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, the benchmark S&P 500, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq all experienced an increase of approximately 0.5%. On Friday, the three major stock indexes experienced a decline as technology shares continued to face pressure amid concerns regarding an AI bubble. The Nasdaq experienced a decline of 1.7%; the S&P 500, which, similar to the Dow, reached an all-time closing high on Thursday, decreased by 1.1%; and the Dow, having established an intraday record high for the second consecutive session shortly after the market opened, ultimately reversed direction to close down by 0.5%.
Shares of Oracle, which lost about 15% of their value over the final two trading days last week after the cloud computing giant reported disappointing earnings, ticked higher in premarket trading. Those of chip designer Broadcom, which traded at a record high as recently as Wednesday, rebounded about 1% after plunging 11% Friday following its own quarterly report. Chip stocks Nvidia, Micron Technology, and Advanced Micro Devices also rebounded modestly before the bell after posting sharp losses to end last week.
Gold futures experienced an increase of 1%, reaching $4,370 per ounce in the latest trading session. Earlier in the session, they reached nearly $4,385, coming close to their all-time high of $4,398 established on October 20. The 10-year Treasury yield, a key determinant of interest rates across various commercial and consumer loans, decreased to 4.17% from 4.19% at the close on Friday. The yield reached a three-month peak of 4.21% on Wednesday, coinciding with the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower its key interest rate for the third consecutive meeting.
Bitcoin was priced at approximately $89,800, reflecting an increase from the day’s low of $87,600. The U.S. dollar index, which monitors the value of the greenback relative to a selection of foreign currencies, decreased to 98.31, marginally below its lowest closing level since mid-October, 98.35, established last Thursday. West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, declined by 0.2% to $57.35 a barrel.