Wall Street extended losses into midday trading Tuesday as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East resurfaced, while gold staged a violent rebound after two days of historic selling.
• SPDR Gold Shares stock is charging ahead with explosive momentum. Why is GLD stock up today?
Gold — as tracked by the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE:GLD) — surged more than 6%, vaulting past $4,950 per ounce and putting the metal on track for its strongest session since November 2008.
The rebound comes after a brutal sell-off sparked by fears that Kevin Warsh’s appointment as the next Federal Reserve chair could usher in a more restrictive monetary policy regime — pressure that had weighed heavily on precious metals in recent sessions.
Silver also snapped back sharply, climbing nearly 9% to $86 after plunging more than 30% over the previous two sessions.
Energy markets reacted to renewed geopolitical stress. Crude oil rose 1.8% to $63 a barrel after U.S. officials told Reuters that American forces shot down an Iranian drone that approached a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea.
After briefly flirting with the 7,000 level intraday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.5% to …