Gold Rallies To $5,300, Memory Stocks Go Wild: What's Moving Markets Wednesday?

Wall Street posted modest gains on Wednesday, while gold extended its relentless rally, shattering records above $5,300 an ounce ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

The yellow metal is now up more than 22% this month, putting it on track for its strongest monthly performance since January 1980. Meanwhile, silver rose nearly 3% to $114 per ounce, eyeing its best-performing month ever after surging 59% year-to-date.

U.S. equities opened higher but lost momentum as the session wore on. The S&P 500 briefly touched a fresh all-time high near 7,000 before slipping about 30 points in midday New York trading. The Nasdaq 100 outperformed, rising 0.4% to break above 26,000 and move closer to its October record of 26,182.

Chipmakers Led Gains

Memory and storage stocks soared after Seagate Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:STX) crushed Wall Street expectations and raised full-year guidance, citing a worsening global supply crunch and fully booked orders amid surging AI demand.

Seagate shares surged nearly 20%, lifting peers Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) and Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC), which climbed 7.3% and 9%, respectively. Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) added more than 5%.

Sandisk has now spiked by more than 1,330% since its February 2025 IPO, underscoring the severity of the memory and storage shortage.

The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at 3.50%–3.75%, signaling no urgency to further ease borrowing costs.

Still, attention is focused on Chair Jerome Powell's press conference, coming just weeks after the opening of a criminal investigation into the Fed's building renovation project—an issue Powell has framed as another attempt by President Donald Trump to exert political pressure on the central bank.

Markets will also parse Powell's remarks on the dollar, after the greenback slid to a four-year low Tuesday following comments from Trump saying he was "not concerned" about the currency's weakness.

The dollar rebounded on Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed speculation of coordinated intervention to support the yen and reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to a strong-dollar policy rooted in sound fundamentals.

Elsewhere, oil prices climbed above $62 a barrel after Trump warned that a "massive armada" was heading toward Iran, urging Tehran to negotiate what he called a fair deal to avoid nuclear escalation.

Energy stocks were the session's top performers, on track for their best monthly showing since October 2022.

In crypto markets, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) edged 0.6% higher to around $89,500.

Wednesday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro platform:

• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) slipped 0.6% to 263.2
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA) was little changed at 490.1
• The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) rose 0.2% to 632.3
• The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) edged down 0.1% to 638.9
• On a sector basis, the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE) outperformed, gaining 0.7%, while the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) underperformed, falling 0.7%

Stocks Moving On Earnings Results

• ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ:ASML) −2.7%
• Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:TXN) +9.1%
• GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV) +0.4%
• Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH) −12.3%
• AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) +5.5%
• Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) −3.4%
• The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) +2.0%
• Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) +2.2%
• Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) −0.6%
• Seagate Technology Holdings plc +19.4%
• General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) −2.5%
• Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) −4.1%
• Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) +6.6%
• AB Volvo (publ) (OTC:VLVLY) +1.8%
• MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) +5.6%
• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NYSE:TEVA) −0.3%
• Otis Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:OTIS) −2.5%
• United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE:UMC) −8.4%
• PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) +5.1%
• NVR, Inc. (NYSE:NVR) +2.3%
• CGI Inc. (NYSE:GIB) −4.0%
• NextPower Inc. (NYSE:NXT) +14.7%
• F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) +6.4%

Stocks reporting earnings after the close include ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX), Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS), Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI), Fair Isaac (NYSE:FICO), Raymond James Financial (NYSE:RJF), Waste Management (NYSE:WM), United Rentals (NYSE:URI), Celestica (NYSE:CLS), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Equity Lifestyle Properties (NYSE:ELS), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (NYSE:CP), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC), C.H. Robinson Worldwide (NASDAQ:CHRW) and Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY).

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