U.S. stocks rose in the February 2 session as Wall Street entered a new trading month, with investors temporarily setting aside recent sharp volatility in silver and Bitcoin.
At the close on February 2, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 515.19 points, or 1.05%, to 49,407.66. The S&P 500 rose 0.54% to finish at 6,976.44, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.56% to 23,592.11.
Bitcoin fell below the $80,000 mark for the first time since April, signaling that investors continue to reduce risk exposure following the sharp sell-off in gold and silver late last week. Silver— which has more than doubled over the past 12 months— plunged about 30% in the January 30 session, marking its steepest one-day drop since 1980. On the same day, gold futures fell roughly 11%.
However, during the February 2 session, cryptocurrencies as well as the two precious metals rebounded from intraday lows, helping to narrow equity losses and ease risk-off sentiment. Bitcoin traded around $78,000, while spot gold and spot silver were down about 4% and 5%, respectively. Shares of Strategy—often seen as a proxy for Bitcoin’s price movements—also fell 6.7%.
The market also turned its attention to Nvidia amid emerging doubts about the investment trend in artificial intelligence (AI). According to a source, Nvidia’s plan to invest $100 billion in OpenAI has stalled, as the chipmaker’s leadership expressed skepticism about the deal. Nvidia shares slid nearly 3%.
“We believe the broader trends—which are largely positive—remain intact,” said Tim Holland, Chief Investment Officer at Orion. “What matters most right now are corporate earnings, the fiscal policy backdrop—which remains supportive even with a temporary shutdown—and seasonal factors.”
Earnings season in full swing
More than 100 companies in the S&P 500 are scheduled to report earnings this week, including Amazon and Alphabet, whose shares both rose in the February 2 session. Overall, the earnings season has been fairly positive so far, despite some sharp post-earnings sell-offs, most notably in the case of Microsoft.
Disney kicked off the week with results that beat analysts’ expectations. However, its shares fell 7% after the company warned of headwinds from weaker international visitor numbers at its domestic theme parks.
Even so, strategists at Deutsche Bank said profit growth is currently on track to reach its strongest pace in four years. So far, about one-third of S&P 500 companies have reported results, and roughly 78% of them have beaten estimates, according to FactSet.
“When thinking about the factors that have weighed on investor concerns over U.S. equity prices, valuation—especially among large-cap stocks—has been the key issue,” Holland said. “Double-digit earnings growth… for a fifth consecutive quarter would go a long way toward easing the valuation concerns we’ve faced over the past few years.”
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