S&P 500 Gains for Year at Risk in Metals-Led Rout: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Futures for the S&P 500 briefly erased their advance for the year as a rout in gold and silver extended a broad flight from riskier assets.

The US benchmark was set to open 0.8% lower after earlier sliding as much as 1.5%. Gold tumbled as much as 10% and was on course for its steepest two-day drop since 1980 as a record-breaking rally unraveled at breakneck speed. Silver extended its losses to more than a third since Friday.

Treasuries posted modest gains as a haven for some, while the dollar held onto Friday’s gains. Bitcoin fell to a 10-month low following a weekend selloff.

“In just three brutal sessions, gold has officially flipped from a raging bull market into a bear market, according to the technical definition,” said Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG Australia. “This kind of velocity and magnitude is extraordinary, even in a year that’s already seen parabolic gains and extreme volatility.”

Monday’s price action points to mounting instability after a prolonged rally in metals and successive record highs in equities, driven by billions in AI investment. At the same time, investors are reassessing valuations and recalibrating expectations for monetary policy under a potential Warsh-led Fed.

With the pick of Warsh — an economist known as much for his fierce criticism of the central bank as his views on monetary policy — the debate has abruptly shifted from short-term rates to the Fed’s $6.6 trillion balance sheet and its very role in markets.

If confirmed by the Senate, the former Fed governor will succeed Jerome Powell when his term ends in May. Warsh, 55, aligned himself with Trump in 2025 by arguing publicly for lower rates, going against his longstanding reputation as an inflation hawk. The US president said Friday he had not asked Warsh to commit to cuts.

“Investors are worried about ‘higher for longer,’” Francis Tan, Asia chief strategist at Indosuez, said about US interest rates. “However, the market’s confusion is whether Trump will add pressure to send more doves the market’s way via Warsh. This causes the volatility across asset classes and geographies.”

The MSCI All Country World Index — one of the broadest measures of equity markets — fell 0.5% as the Asian benchmark slid 2.4%. South Korea’s Kospi — a bellwether for the AI sector — plunged 5.3%.

Losses in tech came after Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said the company’s proposed $100 billion investment in OpenAI was “never a commitment” and that the company would consider any funding rounds “one at a time.”

“Jensen’s comments likely had a near‑term sentiment impact, particularly on AI‑exposed names that have rallied strongly,” said Gary Tan, a portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments. “The remarks primarily served as a profit‑taking catalyst as we see some unwinding of crowded trades across the market.”

In political news, the US government stumbled into a partial shutdown Saturday while waiting for the House to approve a funding deal Trump worked out with Democrats following a national uproar over Border Patrol agents’ killing of a US citizen in Minneapolis.

Brent crude oil plunged as much as 7.4%, while copper slumped more than 5%.

“Sentiment has turned defensive – but this is mainly risk trimming – not so much panic,” said Billy Leung, an investment strategist at Global X Management. “Overall sentiment is weak.”

Corporate News:

Oracle Corp. said it plans to raise $45 billion to $50 billion in 2026 to build additional capacity for its cloud infrastructure through a combination of debt and equity sales. Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s autonomous driving unit, is aiming to raise about $16 billion in a financing round that would value the unit at nearly $110 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.5% as of 8:29 a.m. London time S&P 500 futures fell 0.8% Nasdaq 100 futures fell 1.1% Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 2.1% The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 2.5% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1861 The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 154.98 per dollar The offshore yuan rose 0.1% to 6.9492 per dollar The British pound was little changed at $1.3691 Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin rose 0.3% to $76,646.1 Ether fell 2.3% to $2,235.88 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 4.22% Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.85% Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.50% Commodities

Brent crude fell 4.7% to $66.05 a barrel Spot gold fell 5.2% to $4,638.42 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Winnie Hsu.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.