Stocks Edge Down Ahead Of Fed Minutes, Nvidia Earnings, While Gold Hits $2,000: What's Driving Markets Tu

Wall Street took a brief respite during midday trading on Tuesday, marked by modest losses in major stock averages.

The subdued optimism was likely influenced by disappointing quarterly results from prominent retailers such as Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE:LOW), Kohls Corp. (NYSE:KSS), and Best Buy Co. Inc (NYSE:BBY).

Investors were also eagerly awaiting the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes at 2 p.m. ET, hoping for greater insight into monetary policy.

Shares of NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) declined by 1.7% after surging to fresh record highs on Monday, with the company scheduled to report earnings after the closing bell. This event has the potential to significantly influence market sentiment for the remainder of the shortened Thanksgiving week.

Gold prices made a remarkable surge, crossing the significant milestone of $2,000 per troy ounce, fueled by the sustained weakness of the dollar, which is holding at its lowest level in over two months.

US Index Performance On Tuesday

Index	Performance (+/-)	Value
Nasdaq 100	-0.71%	15,913.39
S&P 500 Index	-0.27%	4,536.31
Dow Industrials	-0.21%	35,073.32
Russell 2000	-1.02%	1,788.62

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 0.3% lower to $452.99.
The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA) fell 0.2% to $350.70.
The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) was 0.7% lower to $387.96.
The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) fell 1.1% to $177.36, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Chart Of The Day: Gold Surges To $2,000, Up Nearly 10% YTD

Sector, Industry ETF Performance

Health care and materials led gains among equity sectors, with the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) and the Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLB) up 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.

Tech and real estate were the laggards, with the the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLRE) down 0.9% and 0.5%, respectively.

Among industries, gold miners, as tracked by the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX), sharply outperformed, rallying over 3.4%.

Clean energy and solar stocks eased, following Monday’s sharp gains, with the Invesco Wilderhill Clean Energy ETF (NYSE:PBW) and the Invesco Solar ETF (NYSE:TAN) down 3.1% and 1.9%, respectively.

Stocks In Focus

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) shares climbed over 8% following the release of its quarterly results.
Other companies reacting to their earnings are Jacobs Solution Inc. (NYSE:J) (down 9%), Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) (down 3%), Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE:BURL) (up 20%), Hibbett, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIBB) (up 13%) and Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) (up 4%).
Meme stock AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AMC) hit a fresh all-time low.
Those reporting after the market close include Nvidia, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK), Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES), HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ), Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ:JACK), Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) and Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ:URBN).

Commodities, Bonds, Other Global Equity Markets And Crypto

The United States Oil Fund, LP (NYSE:USO), which tracks the price performance of light sweet crude oil, eased 0.2%.

Silver rose 1.9% to $23.85, fueled by the rise in gold prices. Treasury yields were slightly softer, with the 10-year benchmark hovering at a 4.41% yield. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:TLT) eased 0.3%.

European equity indices had a lackluster session. The SPDR DJ Euro STOXX 50 ETF (NYSE:FEZ) fell 0.6%.

In emerging markets, Global X MSCI Argentina ETF (NYSE:ARGT) eased 1% after rallying as much as 11.6% on Monday following Javier Milei‘s victory in the country’s presidential elections.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was 2% lower to $36,761, while Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) fell 2.8% to $1,970.

Shanthi Rexaline contributed to this report.

Photo via Shutterstock.

AAgilent Technologies Inc

$120.42-1.37%

ADIAnalog Devices Inc

$381.301.61%