US market today: Wall Street slides as AI stocks drag; bond yields climb, gold hits record-high

Wall Street tumbled on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 dropping 1.3% in early trade and heading toward its worst single-day loss in a month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 571 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.7%, AP reported. Nvidia and other companies riding the artificial intelligence boom were among the heaviest drags. Rising global bond yields also added pressure on equities.The sell-off came alongside a surge in safe-haven buying. Spot gold prices climbed to a record $3,578.40 an ounce before easing slightly to $3,549.10, still up 1.1%. Silver jumped 1.8% to $41.46 an ounce, crossing the $40 level for the first time since 2011. “That’s not just a price tick; it’s the market’s confession that faith in fiat is wobbling,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said. He added that silver’s price has nearly doubled since early 2023.Analysts said investors were shifting away from US Treasuries amid debt concerns, trade tensions and geopolitical risks. The dollar’s weakness, exacerbated by President Donald Trump’s confrontations with the Federal Reserve and other institutions, has further fuelled the flight to gold.Global cues were also negative. Germany’s DAX fell 1.1% and Britain’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.4%, though France’s CAC 40 was steady. Futures pointed to more declines in US indices, with S&P 500 futures down 0.5% and Dow futures 0.4% lower.Markets continued to digest the implications of Friday’s ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which held that Trump had overreached in using national emergencies to justify sweeping tariff hikes. The court allowed the tariffs to remain in place while the administration appeals to the Supreme Court.In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.3% on bargain-hunting, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Shanghai’s Composite fell 0.5% each. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.9%, Australia’s ASX 200 slipped 0.3% and India’s Sensex added 0.4%.Among commodities, US benchmark crude rose $1.86 to $65.87 a barrel and Brent advanced $1.22 to $69.37. In currencies, the dollar firmed to 148.54 yen while the euro weakened to $1.1635.