Stocks Stall, Gold Nears Record Highs As Dollar Faces Worst Week Since July 2023: What's Driving Markets Friday?

Wall Street paused for a breather on Friday, with the S&P 500 index hovering around the flatline at midday trading in New York after a five-day rally that pushed the market to fresh record highs this week. Meanwhile, investor attention shifted to forex and gold markets.

The greenback is experiencing its worst weekly performance since July 2023, as President Donald Trump refrained from imposing new tariffs during his first week and escalated pressure on the Federal Reserve, urging the central bank to lower interest rates. The U.S. dollar index – tracked by the Invesco DB USD Index Bullish Fund ETF UUP – dropped 0.7% on Friday, extending its weekly decline to 1.7%.

Adding to the dollar's downward momentum, the Bank of Japan raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 0.5%, the highest level since 2008, in a move that broadly met expectations.

Gold capitalized on the dollar's weakness and rising tensions between the president and the central bank, marking another week of strong gains and approaching all-time highs. The bullion, tracked by the SPDR Gold Trust GLD, was trading at $2,777 per ounce.

On the macro front, S&P Global reported a slowdown in private sector growth in January, as the services sector faced an unexpected setback, despite manufacturing expanding for the first time in seven months.

A warning came from the University of Michigan's consumer survey, which downwardly revised the January consumer confidence indicator and pointed to increasing trends of households making purchases in advance to avoid potential price hikes linked to tariffs.

In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin BTC/USD climbed 2.5% following Trump's executive order signed on Thursday, aimed at strengthening U.S. leadership in digital assets.

Friday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %chg
Russell 2000	2,314.96	0.0%
S&P 500	6,119.65	0.0%
Dow Jones	44,541.76	-0.1 %
Nasdaq 100	21,861.02	-0.2%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY eased 0.1% to $608.89.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA inched 0.1% lower to $444.96.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ slipped 0.4% to $530.73.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM stalled at $229.40.
• The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund XLU outperformed, up 0.9%; the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE lagged, down 0.4%.

Friday’s Stock Movers

• American Express Company AXP fell 2.4% after reporting fourth-quarter results.
• Other stocks moving on quarterly results were Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, up 1.3%, NextEra Energy Inc. NEE, up 4%, HCA Healthcare Inc. HCA, down 3.2%, First Citizens BancShares Inc. FCNCA, up 3.1%, Ericsson ERIC, down 14.3%, Intuitive Surgical Inc. ISRG, down 3.6%, Texas Instruments Inc. TXN, down 7.1%, and CSX Corp. CSX, down 2.8%.
• Novo Nordisk A/S NVO soared 8.1% after new weight loss drug amycretin showed strong trial results.

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