Tech Selloff Hits US Stocks While Silver Plunges: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — US stocks slipped for a second straight day as traders trimmed bets on tech megacaps before the end of the year. Volatility gripped precious metals as silver retreated after touching a record high.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, with shares of Tesla Inc., Nvidia Corp. and Meta Platforms among the Big Tech decliners. The Nasdaq 100 slid 0.5%. In US government bonds, the yield on 10-year Treasuries edged lower to 4.11%.
The weakness in equities “is a reversal from last week when tech stocks led on the way up,” said Joe Mazzola, head trading & derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab. However, it “doesn’t appear connected to any single fundamental factor.”
The S&P 500 is up 17.4% year-to-date, defying expectations of persistent tariff-fueled weakness even as it underperformed many global peers.
What Bloomberg strategists say…
“The dollar and the S&P 500 were expected to shine in 2025, yet the reality turned out a little different as turmoil and backtracking on tariff announcements in April briefly sank confidence in American policy. The US benchmark has had a good year, but it hasn’t convincingly beaten peers, even in tech.”
— Sebastian Boyd, Macro Strategist, Markets Live. For the full analysis, click here.
An optimistic consensus has taken hold that the rally in stocks will continue in 2026 after three straight years of gains. Despite a raft of risks spanning a potential bust in the artificial-intelligence advance to unanticipated policy shocks, sell-side strategists are forecasting another 9% average gain in the S&P 500 next year.
“As attention shifts to the year ahead, the outlook for U.S. economic growth appears bright,” wrote Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research and Michael Reynolds, vice president of investment strategy at Glenmede. “The combined effects of tariff policy, fiscal stimulus, shifts in the labor market, AI-related productivity, and the potential for deregulation point to above trend prospects in 2026.”
Meantime, President Donald Trump teased that he has a preferred candidate to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, but is in no hurry to make an announcement — while also musing that he might fire the central bank’s current leader, Jerome Powell.
Investors were also assessing the outlook for US interest rates and monetary policy. Wall Street interest-rate strategists — with several notable exceptions — expect stable-to-higher Treasury yields in 2026 despite Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts.
Silver Selloff
Silver, meanwhile, tumbled more than 8% after smashing through $80 an ounce in a rally powered by speculative trades and fears of a supply shortage. Gold was down more than 4%.
Precious metals have emerged as a hot corner of financial markets in recent months, boosted by elevated central-bank purchases and inflows to exchange-traded funds. Lower borrowing costs are also acting as a tailwind for non-yielding commodities, while frictions between the US and Venezuela have added to precious metals’ safe-haven appeal.
The initial momentum for metals on Monday came after a weekend comment by Elon Musk highlighted the growing bullishness around them. Musk replied to a tweet on Chinese export restrictions by saying on X: “This is not good. Silver is needed in many industrial processes.”
Precious metals “had become quite overbought on a short-term basis, so the fact that they’re seeing some outsized declines this morning is not the end of the world at all,” according to Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. “We believe that any weakness in these names over the next week or two should create another good buying opportunity.”
Elsewhere, Bitcoin topped $90,000 before erasing its gain, while a gauge of the dollar was little changed.
Oil rose as the US-led talks on Ukraine failed to yield a breakthrough and as China vowed to support economic growth next year. Brent crude is still on track for a fifth monthly drop in December, which would be the longest losing streak in more than two years.
Corporate News:
SoftBank Group Corp. is in advanced talks to acquire DigitalBridge Group Inc., a private equity firm that invests in assets such as data centers, according to people with knowledge of the matter. DigitalBridge jumped more than 40% in premarket trading. Lululemon Athletica Inc. founder Chip Wilson is pushing for changes to the board before the yogawear maker selects a new chief executive officer, highlighting the contentious relationship between the company and one of its biggest shareholders. Airbus SE is churning out aircraft at a rapid clip in the final days of the year, with confidence building at the European planemaker that it can achieve the delivery goal it was forced to cut only a few weeks ago, according to people familiar with the situation. Stocks
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5% The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% The MSCI World Index fell 0.3% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1771 The British pound was little changed at $1.3504 The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 156.08 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 0.4% to $87,148.82 Ether fell 0.3% to $2,927.41 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 4.11% Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 2.83% Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.49% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2% to $57.87 a barrel Spot gold fell 4.4% to $4,331.57 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Julien Ponthus, Subrat Patnaik, Shikhar Balwani, Isabelle Lee and Rheaa Rao.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
