Stocks, Gold and Silver Tumble in Volatile Trading: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Stocks fell and gold and silver extended their slump as assets that had performed the best in January came under intense selling pressure following Friday’s dramatic market reversal.
The MSCI All Country World Index fell 0.4% as the Asian benchmark slid 2%. South Korea’s Kospi — a bellwether for the AI sector — plunged 4.4%, and Nasdaq 100 Index futures dropped more than 1% as investors turned bearish on the technology sector amid concerns about high valuations and billions in AI investments. Bitcoin briefly slid below $75,000.
Gold fell 3.6% and silver dropped 5% to extend their slide after a blistering rally since last year. Precious metals losses worsened and the dollar strengthened on Friday as President Donald Trump nominated Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair. The dollar gained against most of its Group-of-10 peers and yields on the 10-year Treasury advanced one basis point.
“Market sentiment is definitely very nervous this morning after the volatility we saw on Friday,” said Nick Twidale, chief market analyst at AT Global Markets. “The big moves in metals are the real catalyst. When we see these kind of historical moves, investor confidence drops hard not just for gold but the overall market.”
Monday’s price actions point to mounting instability after a prolonged rally in precious 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 amid repeated calls by Trump to lower rates.
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.
“Investors are worried about ‘higher for longer,”’ Francis Tan, Asia chief strategist at Indosuez, said about US interest rates. “However, market’s confusion is whether Trump will add pressure to send more doves in market’s way via Warsh. This causes the volatility across asset classes and geographies.”
What Bloomberg strategists say…
The selloff is accelerating now as though Asian traders are eager to dump assets to anticipate a fresh leg lower for metals and equities once London desks get going. The cascading series of lows for a broad range of assets, from gold to the Kospi, WTI crude and Nasdaq-100 futures, is taking on life of its own.
— Garfield Reynolds, MLIV Asia Team Leader. For full analysis, click here.
Markets are volatile this morning as investors unwind crowded positions following a sharp shift in expectations triggered by the nomination of Warsh, said Tareck Horchani, head of prime brokerage dealing at Maybank Securities Singapore.
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.
In technology news, 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.
Elsewhere in commodities, oil plunged as traders eye Trump’s next steps on Iran and progress on Ukraine peace talks. Brent traded near $67 a barrel, after adding 16% last month, while West Texas Intermediate dropped to around $62.
Also, OPEC+ ratified plans to keep production steady in March — the last part of a three-month supply freeze, even after prices hit a four-month high on the prospect of a US strike against Iran.
Much of the attention was in the precious metals markets. Gold fell, following its biggest plunge in more than a decade, and silver whipsawed in choppy trading after a dramatic pullback from record highs.
Over the last year, precious metals have risen to all-time highs that have shocked even seasoned traders. The rally accelerated sharply in January, as investors piled into gold and silver on renewed concerns about geopolitical upheaval, currency debasement and the independence of the Fed. A wave of buying from Chinese speculators added froth to the rally.
“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. BYD Co. said sales dropped 30% in January, underscoring the challenges facing the electric vehicle maker’s efforts to boost sales just as a winding back of subsidies hurts demand in China. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures fell 1.1% as of 12:52 p.m. Tokyo time Japan’s Topix fell 0.3% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.3% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.3% The Shanghai Composite fell 1.3% Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.9% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1870 The Japanese yen was little changed at 154.93 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.9516 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 0.8% to $75,785.26 Ether fell 2.6% to $2,229.23 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.24% Japan’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 2.250% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.82% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 4.4% to $62.37 a barrel Spot gold fell 4.5% to $4,672.56 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Winnie Hsu, Gabrielle Ng and Sangmi Cha.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
