Dow Jones falls while S&P 500, Nasdaq recover from losses as tensions between Russia and Ukraine roil markets

Ines Ferré of Yahoo Finance reports:

Gold futures (GC=F) hovered at a one-week high, trading around $2,630 an ounce on Tuesday, as traders assessed the threat of nuclear escalation in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The precious metal extended its gains from Monday as investors flocked to the asset traditionally seen as a safe haven in times of geopolitical uncertainty.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine that formally lowered the threshold for Russia’s use of its nuclear weapons. The move followed a decision by the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to attack US-made long-range missiles deep inside Russia.

“Geopolitical risks have resurfaced, boosting demand for gold and solidifying its role as a reliable hedging asset,” Ahmad Assiri, research strategist at currency broker Pepperstone, said in a note on Tuesday.

Gold had been rising until the US elections on November 5. It has since fallen as the US dollar (DX-Y.NYB) strengthened. Still, the precious metal is up about 27% this year, outpacing the S&P 500’s (^GSPC) gain of 23% over the same period as central banks have been adding to their gold reserves.

Read more here.

It was a story about two retailers this morning…Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma reports:

Walmart (WMT), the world’s largest retailer, posted third-quarter fiscal results that easily beat Wall Street expectations as inflation-challenged consumers continue to look for value. The share fell more than 3%.

Revenue of $169.59 billion exceeded analyst estimates of $167.5 billion. Adjusted earnings per share exceeded estimates by 5 cents to $0.58.

The company also raised its guidance for fiscal 2025 for the third time.

Read more here.

Shares of Lowe (LOW) fell nearly 5% shortly after the opening bell as investors took advantage of continued negative sales growth despite results that beat Street expectations.

The home improvement retailer posted revenue of $20.17 billion, compared to estimates of $19.93 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.89, versus expectations of $2.82.

Same-store sales fell 1.1%, less than the expected 2.7% decline. The company alluded to continued weakness in DIY larger-ticker discretionary demand, which was offset by hurricane-related recovery efforts following Hurricanes Helene and Milton and positive same-store sales in its Pro business and online.

Read more here.

The number of housing projects fell in October, pressured by a decline in single-family construction.

Census Bureau data shows that the number of homes fell 3.1% in October to an annual rate of 1.311 million homes. Meanwhile, the number of single-family homes fell 6.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 970,000 units, unchanged from a year ago.

The decline came as mortgage rates rose, with the average 30-year loan hovering around 6.7%. Home loan rates generally track U.S. Treasury yields, which have risen since mid-September, partly due to investor anticipation of Trump’s victory and his proposed policies on taxes and tariffs.

Higher rates also likely discouraged builders from filing building permits during the month.

Contract permits for single-family homes fell to 968,000, down 0.5% from September’s revised figure of 963,000.

“Major storms likely halted the start of some housing projects, causing construction to fall sharply in the Southeast,” Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial, wrote after the release.

“Both housing starts and building permits fell in October as several homebuilders appeared to delay project starts until after the election. However, more recent surveys have shown a recovery in confidence among homebuilders.”

US stocks fell on Tuesday after President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine, allowing Russia to expand its use of nuclear weapons in a possible escalation of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) led the declines, down about 0.8%. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell about 0.5%, falling below election outbreak levels, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also fell about 0.5% after a mixed day for the major gauges.

Super Micro Computer (SMCI), an AI server maker and Nvidia (NVDA) partner, rose more than 25% premarket on Tuesday. The sprint higher came after the company filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission saying it had filed a compliance plan with Nasdaq to avoid delisting.

Super Micro also boosted its shares, saying it had hired a new accountant, BDO, after its previous accountant, Ernst & Young, resigned in late October.

The company was in hot water with the Nasdaq after delaying both its annual and quarterly filings with the SEC following a damning report from short-selling firm Hindenburg Research. The report sheds light on possible accounting malpractices, export control violations and murky relationships between top executives and Super Micro partners. The company is reportedly under investigation by the Justice Department.

Even with this week’s rise, shares are down about 56% over the past three months. After surging as much as 300% earlier this year, SMCI stock is now down more than 20% in 2024.

Read the full story here.

Walmart (WMT) has worked very hard behind the scenes over the past two years to become a major player online. The retailer has expanded its range online and refined the ‘buy online, pick up in store’ functionality.

The efforts remain visible on the winning days.

Here are the company’s e-commerce results by division for the third quarter, reported this morning:

These results are striking for two reasons: 1) Walmart isn’t exactly a startup; 2) competition online is as fierce as ever.

I’m speaking with Walmart CFO John David Rainey live at 9:15 a.m. ET on Yahoo Finance. Don’t worry, we’ll ask him about these online sales figures!

Hat tip to Goldman Sachs’ chief U.S. equity strategist David Kostin for mentioning specific stocks that just fell in his piece on the 2025 outlook.

So often, these year-end works of art from investment bank strategists simply serve the objectives of the S&P 500 (^GSPC), explaining various underlying scenarios. But usually not stock predictions.

Kostin expects another year of strong performance for the Mag 7 business, just not as popular as in recent years.

Kostin says:

This is a good point by Kostin and contradicts all these Mag 7 stocks that are trading at rich prices and have good prospects for earnings growth. There’s only so far you can push a stock price based on reasonable future financial assumptions!

You can shop around for Mag 7 valuations on Yahoo Finance’s new stock comparison tool here.

As I noted in our blog on Monday, expectations for Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings and prospects are very robust, to say the least.

If there’s one thing that could derail bullish trading the morning after earnings reports, it’s Nvidia’s guidance. While it will likely be above consensus, it may not be above consensus enough given the dynamics surrounding demand for Blackwell chips. Nvidia could choose to go stronger with guidance when it reports in about three months.

Important point about this from Stifel analyst Ruben Roy in a note this morning: