Stocks Take a Breather as Gold Glitters Less

Wall Street saw a slight dip in stock prices on Wednesday, pulling back from recent record highs. The S&P 500 fell by 0. 6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 211 points, or 0. 5%. The Nasdaq composite also took a hit, down by 1. 2% as of early afternoon trading. Netflix was a major drag on the market, with its stock plummeting by 10. 2% after reporting lower-than-expected profits for the latest quarter. This puts pressure on other companies to show strong profit growth, especially after the S&P 500's impressive 35% rise from its April low. AT&T and Texas Instruments also faced declines, with drops of 2. 3% and 6. 8% respectively, due to profits that fell short of analyst forecasts. On the flip side, Intuitive Surgical saw a significant jump of 13. 9% after beating profit expectations, and Boston Scientific climbed 4. 6% for the same reason. Bank stocks remained relatively stable, with Capital One Financial and Western Alliance Bancorp reporting stronger-than-expected profits. This was a welcome relief after recent concerns about potential bad loans in the banking sector. Beyond Meat experienced a wild ride, initially surging before falling 8. 3% by the end of the day. The stock has been highly volatile, reflecting its status as a meme stock, with gains of over 80% in October alone. This surge might be linked to Walmart's announcement to expand the availability of Beyond Meat products in over 2, 000 stores. Meanwhile, gold continued its downward trend, slipping by 0. 8% to $4, 074. 70 per ounce, following a 5. 3% drop the previous day. Despite this decline, gold is still up over 50% for the year. Factors like expected interest rate cuts, high inflation, and rising government debt have driven gold's price up, but criticism has grown that its rise has been too rapid. Internationally, stock markets showed mixed results. London's FTSE 100 rose by 0. 9% after a positive inflation report, while South Korea's Kospi jumped by 1. 6%. However, Hong Kong and Paris saw declines of 0. 9% and 0. 7% respectively. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped slightly to 3. 95% from 3. 98% the previous day.