Dow rises as gold rallies to 4,000

U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Tuesday, and gold spiked to a record $4,000 as Wall Street looked to maintain the momentum that pushed the major indexes to new record highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 80 points, while the S&P 500 added 0.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite hovered 0.12% higher in early trading.

The upbeat open across Wall Street follows a winning streak for stocks that stretches seven straight sessions.

Dow rises as stocks eye rally

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite surged to a seventh straight positive close, shrugging off a slow start. Wall Street’s upside outlook is in place as investor confidence has remained elevated despite continued U.S. government shutdown.

Notably, mega deals across the artificial intelligence market have injected bullish sentiment into tech stocks. Shares of Nvidia and AMD are among those spiking as AI deals take center stage.

However, as the U.S. government shutdown drags on, investors are showing early signs of uncertainty. Sentiment is mixed around what the shutdown means for the economy, and the outlook for the Federal Reserve’s next interest-rate move remains in focus.

The delay of the September jobs report casts a shadow of uncertainty. Investors may be cautious or taking a breather ahead of the anticipated Fed rate decision.

Gold hits $4,000

As stocks slowed on Tuesday, the rally that recently pushed gold to record highs continued.

Gains saw the precious metal climb above $4,000 – the first time ever. Gold prices are now up by more than 50% since the start of the year.

This surge to new highs comes as banks aggressively buy gold, with investors flocking to safe-haven assets as risk-on sentiment wavers. Gold prices have increased by more than 50% year to date.