U.S. Stocks Close Lower; Tesla (TSLA.US) Drops Over 4.6%, Spot Gold Rises 0.84%

Stock News12-18

On Wednesday, major U.S. indices declined, led by tech stocks, with Tesla retreating from recent highs.

**U.S. Markets** The Dow Jones fell 228.29 points (0.47%) to 47,885.97, the Nasdaq dropped 418.14 points (1.81%) to 22,693.32, and the S&P 500 lost 78.83 points (1.16%) to 6,721.43. Tesla (TSLA.US) slid over 4.6%, while NVIDIA (NVDA.US) gained 3.8%. Circle (CRCL.US) declined more than 4.5%, and Oracle dropped 5.4%.

**European Markets** Germany’s DAX30 fell 120.01 points (0.50%) to 23,967.32, while the UK’s FTSE 100 rose 85.72 points (0.89%) to 9,770.51. France’s CAC40 dipped 20.11 points (0.25%) to 8,086.05, and the Euro Stoxx 50 lost 32.63 points (0.57%) to 5,685.20. Spain’s IBEX35 edged up 6.90 points (0.04%) to 16,928.80, and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 88.02 points (0.20%) to 44,078.50.

**Asia-Pacific Markets** Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.26%, South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 1.43%, and Indonesia’s Composite Index slipped 0.1%.

**Foreign Exchange** The Bloomberg Dollar Index pared gains after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller signaled support for further rate cuts. The British pound underperformed among G-10 currencies as the Bank of England is expected to cut rates by 25 basis points on Thursday. The Bloomberg Dollar Index rose 0.2%, rebounding as much as 0.4% earlier. GBP/USD fell 0.3% to 1.3379, briefly touching 1.3312. USD/JPY gained 0.6% to 155.70 ahead of the Bank of Japan’s rate decision on Friday. EUR/USD was flat at 1.1743, while EUR/GBP rose 0.3% to 0.8777.

**Cryptocurrencies** Bitcoin fell over 2%, hitting a low of $85,314, while Ethereum dropped more than 4.6% to $2,825.

**Precious Metals** Spot gold rose 0.84% to $4,338.62, supported by expectations of further U.S. monetary easing, persistent geopolitical risks, and strong investor demand.

**Crude Oil** NYMEX WTI crude for January 2026 delivery rose $0.67 (1.21%) to $55.94 per barrel, while Brent crude for February delivery gained $0.76 (1.29%) to $59.68.

**Macro Developments** Fed Governor Waller stated that monetary policy remains restrictive, leaving room for further rate cuts. Meanwhile, U.S. unemployment rose to 4.6% in November, raising concerns about economic momentum ahead of midterm elections.

**Corporate News** - Micron Technology (MU.US) surged 6% in after-hours trading after issuing strong revenue guidance, driven by AI demand. - Google (GOOG.US) is reportedly enhancing its TPU chips' compatibility with PyTorch to challenge NVIDIA’s dominance in AI computing. - Oracle (ORCL.US) fell 5% to $177, nearly halving from its September peak, as concerns over delayed data center deliveries and rising debt weighed on sentiment. - NVIDIA (NVDA.US) settled a trade secrets lawsuit with Valeo over autonomous driving technology.

**Analyst Ratings** Jefferies raised its price target on Apple (AAPL.US) from $246.99 to $283.36.

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