Stocks Fall, Gold Rallies, Silver Hits 24-Year Highs As Inflation Rises: What's Moving Markets Friday?

Investor sentiment faded on Friday as a key inflation gauge closely watched by the Federal Reserve climbed to a five-month-high, casting fresh uncertainty over the timing of potential interest rate cuts.

The core Personal Consumption Expenditures index — the Fed's preferred inflation gauge — rose 2.9% year-over-year in July, in line with forecasts but still marking a five-month high. The timing unsettled markets, coming just a week after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the central bank may soon begin lowering interest rates.

By midday trading in New York, all major equity benchmarks were in negative territory, led by underperformance in tech and high-growth names. More speculative assets, including cryptocurrencies, saw steeper losses.

The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.3%, snapping a three-day winning streak. Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) slid 3.4%, a sharper decline than Thursday's modest 0.8% dip following a muted market reaction to its positive-but-unremarkable quarterly earnings beat.

Despite the pullback, all major indices remain on track to close August in the green, marking a fourth consecutive month of gains.

Precious metals: Traders sought inflation hedges amid rising concerns about policy missteps.

• Gold jumped 0.9%, reaching its highest level since April 22 and trading just 1.5% below its all-time high.
• Silver surged 1.9% to $39.70, its strongest level since September 2011.

In the crypto market:

• Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) dropped 3.8% to $108,400, heading for its third consecutive weekly decline.
• Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) both lost 4.5%, tracking broader weakness across digital assets.

Friday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) dropped 0.7% to $592.65.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) dropped 0.3% to $455.60.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) fell 1.2% to $570.32.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) dropped 0.4% to $235.26.
• The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLF) outperformed, up 0.5%; the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) lagged, down 1.5% to $262.46.

Stocks On The Move Friday

• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) jumped nearly 13%, its strongest session since March 2023, after delivering quarterly earnings that sharply exceeded Wall Street expectations.
• Other Chinese tech names advanced as well, with Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) climbing 4.4% and JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) adding 2.6%.
• Other stocks reacting to earnings reports included Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) down 7.9%, Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) up 8.1%, Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) down 16.5%, Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM) up 10.6% and Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) down 6.5%.

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