US stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq Pull Back from record highs as Gold hits fresh all-time peak

On Monday, US stocks went down after last week’s strong rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 0.4%, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.1% , as per Yahoo Finance. This drop came just after stocks had reached new record highs last week because investors were happy with the Fed’s first rate cut of 2025. Investors are now waiting for a busy week of speeches from Federal Reserve officials.

Stephen Miran, the new Fed governor backed by President Trump, will speak Monday in New York. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will speak Tuesday. More Fed members will speak later this week. Miran has promised to share his policy views during his first appearance as governor in New York. Markets are also waiting for Friday’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation data, which is the Fed’s favorite inflation measure, as per Yahoo Finance.

If the PCE report is weak, it could raise chances of another quarter-point rate cut in October. Wall Street expects PCE for September to show inflation is still there but soft enough for the Fed to keep cutting rates.

Gold price record all-time high and crypto crash

Gold prices hit a fresh all-time high of $3,750 on Monday. This happened because traders are betting the Fed will cut interest rates two more times before the end of 2025. On the other hand, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and other cryptocurrencies dropped sharply. Traders lost over $1.5 billion in bullish bets as positions were liquidated.

ALSO READ: US stock futures dip as Fed speeches and inflation data loom; Gold hits record $3,750, crypto plunges, Trump’s new H-1B visa fee jolts Indian IT stocks

Markets are also watching for possible fallout from Trump’s new immigration rules.On Friday, his administration announced a $100,000 fee for H1-B work visas. Companies like Microsoft (MSFT) and Goldman Sachs (GS) immediately sent urgent warning emails to their employees about the new rule. Because of this immigration crackdown news, megacap tech stocks traded mixed in early trading on Monday.

Oracle CEO Safra Catz steps down

At the same time, Oracle (ORCL) stock fell more than 1% before the market opened. This was after the company announced that longtime CEO Safra Catz was stepping down. Oracle named two new co-CEOs, Clay Magouyrk, who was president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), the AI cloud business. Mike Sicilia, who was president of Oracle Industries. Both had been promoted in June as part of a succession plan, as per the report by Business Insider.

Pfizer acquisition

Earlier in the day, Oracle shares had gone up because of news about TikTok. Reports said Oracle will secure and run TikTok’s algorithm in the US and store American user data in its cloud. This move would help TikTok avoid a US ban. Analysts told Yahoo Finance this deal was positive for Oracle, since TikTok data already brought in about 5% of Oracle’s OCI revenue in fiscal 2025.

In pharma news, Pfizer (PFE) said it will acquire Metsera (MTSR), a weight-loss drug company, in a deal worth $7.3 billion. After this announcement, Metsera’s stock soared more than 60% in premarket trading. Pfizer’s stock rose about 1%. Pfizer is making this deal because its own weight-loss pill, danuglipron, had failed in clinical trials, and the company had to stop developing it, as per the Pfizer statement.

Under the agreement, Pfizer will pay $47.50 per share for Metsera, valuing it at $4.9 billion. Metsera could also get up to $22.50 per share extra in cash if it meets three clinical and regulatory milestones. Metsera has several GLP-1 obesity drug candidates in its pipeline, which makes the deal important for Pfizer’s future.

Investors are also watching Micron Technology’s earnings report, which will show how much demand there is for AI chips, and Costco’s results, which will give clues about consumer spending. Apart from the big events, Wall Street is also waiting for The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index due Friday morning. Updates on mortgage rates, which are close to their lowest in one year, according to Freddie Mac, as per the reports.

FAQs

Q1. What happened to gold and cryptocurrencies today?
Gold hit a new all-time high of $3,750 due to expected Fed rate cuts, while Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies dropped, with traders losing over $1.5 billion in bets.

Q2. Why did US stocks fall today?
US stocks dipped slightly as investors awaited Federal Reserve speeches and key inflation data, following last week’s record highs.