Published : 11 months ago, on 21/01/2024

By Chibuike Oguh and Amanda Cooper

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -Global shares edged lower on Wednesday as markets weighed tensions between Russia and the West, while bitcoin hit a new record high and the dollar gained after three straight sessions of losses.

Shares of Nvidia were down 0.4% in after-market trading after the artificial intelligence powerhouse forecast fourth-quarter revenue that was largely in line with analyst estimates. The stock of the world’s most valuable company had closed down 0.8% in regular hours trading on Wednesday.

Benchmark S&P 500 finished flat while the Dow gained and the Nasdaq ended lower. Healthcare, energy and materials stocks were the biggest gainers, while consumer discretionary, financials and technology equities were the biggest drag.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.32% to 43,408.47, the S&P 500 was flat at 5,917.11 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.11% to 18,966.14.

The MSCI All-World index was down 0.16% to 847.84. European shares finished down 0.02%.

Nvidia is obviously a bellwether stock for the market and it seems to be down a little bit after market, but it wasn’t a catastrophe by any stretch of the imagination,” said James St. Aubin, chief investment officer at Ocean Park Asset Management in Santa Monica, California.

“The bar keeps getting raised and raised and raised. But eventually it just becomes really difficult to exceed that bar. And I think that’s kind of where we’re at with Nvidia.”

Safe-haven assets such as gold and government bonds got a lift on Tuesday after news of Ukraine launching U.S.-made ATACMS missiles into Russia, and with Russia announcing it had lowered the threshold for nuclear action. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, however, later downplayed the nuclear threat, helping to calm markets.

Gold prices climbed for a third consecutive session to mark a one-week high. Spot gold rose 0.69% to $2,649.89 an ounce. U.S. gold futures settled 0.8% higher at $2,651.70.

Investors are also watching President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, which may come as soon as Wednesday.

Markets were realizing that some of Trump policies, including tariffs and deportations, could be inflationary, said Lukasz Tomicki, founding partner at LRT Capital in Austin, Texas.

“There’s been this belief that Trump’s policies will be inflationary and we’ve seen the spike in yields since his election,” Tomicki said.

The dollar index rose 0.54% to 106.68, snapping three consecutive sessions of losses but still below one-year highs. It has gained nearly 3% since the Nov. 5 U.S. general election. The dollar was last up 0.48% against the yen at 155.40. Against the Swiss franc, the dollar was up 0.2% at 0.88410.

The Chinese yuan weakened against the greenback after the central bank held benchmark lending rates steady, as widely expected. In the offshore market, the yuan was down 0.22% against the dollar at 7.251.

Bitcoin, which hit a fresh record high just shy of $95,000, was up 2.53% at $94,579.01. The price has risen by well over 30% since Trump’s election, buoyed by expectations that he will create a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment.

The gains in bitcoin have been aided by a Financial Times report that Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates Truth Social and is majority-owned by Trump, is close to an all-stock acquisition of crypto trading firm Bakkt.

Oil prices settled lower after U.S. crude and gasoline stocks rose by more than expected last week. Brent crude futures for January settled 0.68% at $72.81.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for December expired on Wednesday, and settled down 0.75% at $68.87, while the more active WTI contract for January settled down 0.71% at $68.75.

(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York; Additional reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe in London and Stella Qiu in Sydney; Editing by Stephen Coates, Jamie Freed, Toby Chopra, Peter Graff and Alex Richardson)