Financial Markets                      02/03 09:41

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market is drifting through mixed trading on 
Tuesday, while gold and silver bounce back from their latest sell-off.

   The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% and edged further from its all-time high set last 
week, even though the majority of stocks within the index rose. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average was up 68 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern time, 
and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% lower.

   Several influential Big Tech stocks weighed on the market, including drops 
of 2.5% for Nvidia and 2.2% for Microsoft.

   They fell despite a 6.6% climb for Palantir Technologies, which reported 
bigger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its 
forecast for 61% growth in revenue this year also topped analysts' 
expectations, as CEO Alex Karp crowed that his company is unique and that 
"these numbers prove it."

   The action was stronger, again, in metals markets. Gold's price climbed 6.2% 
to $4,939.20 per ounce in its latest swing since its jaw-dropping rally 
suddenly halted last week.

   Silver's price, which has been whipping though even wilder moves, leaped 
14.3%.

   Gold and silver prices had been climbing for more than a year as investors 
looked for safer places to park their cash amid worries about everything from 
tariffs to a weaker U.S. dollar to heavy debt loads for governments worldwide. 
Their prices took off in particular last month, and gold's price at one point 
had roughly doubled over 12 months.

   But those rallies suddenly gave out last week, and gold's price dropped from 
close to $5,600 to less than $4,500 on Monday. Silver plunged 31.4% on Friday 
alone.

   Many traders say expectations that President Donald Trump's nominee to lead 
the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates high to fight inflation were what 
turned the momentum initially, though some disagree. Most agree that simple 
gravity took over afterward.

   After gold and silver prices had shot up so much, so quickly, they were 
bound to fall back at some point, particularly with so many investors piling in 
to use gold as a way to bet on continued weakness for the U.S. dollar.

   "The move underscored how stretched anti-USD positioning had become," 
according to volatility strategists at Barclays.

   On Wall Street, PayPal dropped 17.5% after reporting weaker results for the 
latest quarter than analysts expected. It also named a new CEO after it said 
"the pace of change and execution" over the last two years "was not in line" 
with the board of directors' expectations.

   Pfizer fell 3.7% even though it reported stronger profit for the latest 
quarter than analysts expected. The pharmaceutical company gave a forecasted 
range for profit in 2026 whose midpoint was below analysts' expectations.

   The Walt Disney Co. slipped 1.7% after it said Josh D'Amaro, head of the 
company's parks business, will become its next CEO in March.

   On the winning side of the market was PepsiCo, which rose 4.7% after the 
snack and beverage giant's profit and revenue for the latest quarter nudged 
past analysts' expectations. It also said it would cut prices this year on 
Lay's, Doritos and other snacks to try and win back inflation-weary customers.

   In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.28% 
from 4.29% late Monday.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes bounced back in Asia from sharp losses the 
prior day.

   South Korea's Kospi surged 6.8% for its best day since the wild days of the 
COVID crash and recovery in early 2020. Just a day earlier, it had tumbled 5.3% 
from its record for its worst day in almost 10 months. The Kospi is home to 
many tech stocks, including Samsung Electronics, which surged 11.4%.

   Japan's Nikkei 225 rallied 3.9%, while stocks rose 1.3% in Shanghai and 0.2% 
in Hong Kong.

   Indexes were weaker in Europe, where France's CAC 40 fell 0.5%.

   ___

   AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

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