Tech Stocks Pull Wall Street Lower     02/03 15:26

   The U.S. stock market sank in mixed trading on Tuesday, while gold and 
silver bounced higher after their latest sell-off.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market sank in mixed trading on Tuesday, 
while gold and silver bounced higher after their latest sell-off.

   The S&P 500 fell 0.8% and pulled further from its all-time high set last 
week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 166 points, or 0.3%, and the 
Nasdaq composite sank 1.4%.

   Several influential Big Tech stocks weighed on the market, including drops 
of 2.8% for Nvidia and 2.9% for Microsoft. Such giants have been hampered by 
worries that their stock prices shot too high and became too expensive 
following their yearslong dominance of the market.

   Stocks of software companies and others seen as potential losers to 
competitors powered by artificial intelligence also slumped. ServiceNow fell 7% 
to bring its loss for the young year so far to 28.3%.

   Such declines dragged the S&P 500 to its fourth loss in the last five days, 
even though the majority of stocks in the index rose. That included a 6.8% 
climb for Palantir Technologies, which reported a bigger profit for the latest 
quarter than analysts expected. Its forecast for 61% growth in revenue this 
year also topped analysts' expectations.

   Some of the day's strongest action remained in the metals markets. Gold's 
price climbed 6.1% to settle at $4,935.00 per ounce in the latest swing since 
its jaw-dropping rally suddenly halted last week. Silver's price, which has 
been whipping through even wilder moves, rallied 8.2%.

   Gold and silver prices had been climbing for more than a year as investors 
looked for safer places to park their cash amid worries about everything from 
tariffs to a weaker U.S. dollar to heavy debt loads for governments worldwide. 
Their prices took off in particular last month, and gold's price at one point 
had roughly doubled over 12 months.

   But those rallies suddenly gave out last week, and gold's price dropped from 
close to $5,600 to less than $4,500 on Monday. Silver plunged 31.4% on Friday 
alone.

   Many traders say that what turned the momentum was expectations that 
President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Reserve will keep interest 
rates high to fight inflation, though some disagree. Most agree that simple 
gravity took over afterward.

   After gold and silver prices had shot up so much, so quickly, they were 
bound to fall back at some point, particularly with so many investors piling in 
to gold as a way to bet on continued weakness for the U.S. dollar.

   "The move underscored how stretched anti-USD positioning had become," 
according to strategists at Barclays.

   On Wall Street, PayPal dropped 20.3% after reporting weaker results for the 
latest quarter than analysts expected. It also named a new CEO after it said 
"the pace of change and execution" over the last two years "was not in line" 
with the board of directors' expectations.

   Pfizer fell 3.3% even though it reported stronger profit for the latest 
quarter than analysts expected. The pharmaceutical company gave a forecasted 
range for profit in 2026 whose midpoint was below analysts' expectations.

   Shares of Banco Santander, the Spanish bank, that trade in the United States 
fell 6.4% after it said it will buy Webster Financial in a cash-and-stock deal 
valued at roughly $12.3 billion. The parent company of Webster Bank rallied 9%.

   On the winning side of the market was PepsiCo, which rose 4.9% after the 
snack and beverage giant's profit and revenue for the latest quarter nudged 
past analysts' expectations. It also said it would cut prices this year on 
Lay's, Doritos and other snacks to try and win back inflation-weary customers.

   DaVita rallied 21.2% after the provider of dialysis and other health care 
services likewise delivered a better profit for the latest quarter than 
analysts expected.

   All told, the S&P 500 fell 58.63 points to 6,917.81. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average dipped 166.67 to 49,240.99, and the Nasdaq composite sank 
336.92 to 23,255.19.

   In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.26% from 
4.29% late Monday.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes bounced back in Asia from sharp losses the 
prior day.

   South Korea's Kospi surged 6.8% for its best performance since the wild days 
of the COVID crash and recovery in early 2020. Just a day earlier, it had 
tumbled 5.3% from its record for its worst day in almost 10 months. The Kospi 
is home to many tech stocks, including Samsung Electronics, which surged 11.4%.

   Japan's Nikkei 225 rallied 3.9%, while stocks rose 1.3% in Shanghai and 0.2% 
in Hong Kong.

   Indexes nudged lower in Europe, with France's CAC 40 edging down by less 
than 0.1%.