Dow slightly up as gold hits fresh high, stocks largely muted

U.S. stocks remained near record highs on Tuesday but saw a largely muted opening as the previous session’s spike cooled amid gold’s surge to a new all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened higher and added nearly 200 points, while the SP 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both showed subdued action at the open. 

A cooldown for the primary gauges followed an explosive move on Monday, which received a boost from news of Nvidia’s $100 billion investment in OpenAI. Nvidia’s stock rose more than 3% before paring some of the gains in premarket trading.

Elsewhere, Bitcoin ( BTC ) hovered near $112,000.

Stocks target rally amid rate cut anticipation

Despite the slow start to the new session, stocks were poised as Wall Street turned attention to the much awaited speech by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. 

The Fed chair’s speech at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce 2025 Economic Outlook Luncheon will be at 12.25 pm ET on Tuesday. It’s the first time Powell will give commentary from the central bank since the Fed’s interest rate cut. 

According to market experts, investors expect to get insights into the Fed’s thinking and outlook on the U.S. economy ahead of key economic data releases this week. Wall Street expects more rate cuts in 2025.

Gold surges to a record high

Stocks have recorded three straight winning days, with major indexes hitting all-time high closes.

However, despite sentiment remaining bullish amid artificial intelligence-related news, U.S.-China trade talks, and the Federal Reserve’s pivot, it is gold that is poised to steal the headlines with a new high.

Gold surged to above $3,816, a fresh record for the bullion, as investors weighed reports that China was looking to bolster its stature in the market with an offer to handle the custody of gold reserves for friendly countries.

Sources told Bloomberg that the People’s Bank of China has courted various central banks to buy the precious metal via the Shanghai Gold Exchange, with these assets stored within China’s borders.

Gold prices jumped to fresh highs amid the reports, as upward momentum continued ahead of Powell’s speech.