Wall Street is largely unchanged early Tuesday as trading for 2025 nudges closer to the finish line. Gold, silver and copper all resumed their ascent after steep declines Monday.
Futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq were all down less than 0.1% before the bell.
Gold futures gained 1.7% early Tuesday after falling 4.6% the day before. It’s up more than 64% this year.
Silver futures gained 7.7% after slumping 8.7% on Monday and have more than doubled in 2025.
The precious metals fell back on Monday when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, one of the world’s largest trading floors for commodities, asked traders to put up more cash to make bets on precious metals.
Copper futures also clawed back some of Monday’s losses, rising 3.1%. Even with a 4.7% decline to start the week, copper futures have soared more than 42% this year, on pace for the largest gain in 16 years. Copper is critical to global energy infrastructure, and demand is expected to keep growing as the development of artificial intelligence technology puts more of a strain on data centers and the energy grid.
Mining companies, which tumbled with gold and silver Monday, also bounced back early Tuesday, with Freeport-McMoRan and Newmont both up more than 2%.
In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi rang out the final session for 2025 in a traditional year-end ceremony.
“By realizing a Japanese economy that earns the trust of investors around the world, we will create a virtuous cycle in which global capital flows into Japan,” Takaichi said.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.4% to 50,339.48, its first year-end close above 50,000. It ended 2025 up nearly 25%.
With just two trading days left before the year ends, most big investors have closed out their positions and volume has been thin. Most global markets will be closed Thursday, New Year’s day, and some will also be closed Wednesday and Friday.
In early European trading, Germany’s DAX was nearly unchanged at 24,348.38. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% to 9.876.73, while the CAC 40 in Paris had barely budged at 8,112.37.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 0.9% to 25,854.60, while the Shanghai Composite index was virtually unchanged at 3,965.51.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% lower to 8,717.10.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.2% to 4,214.17, while Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.4%.
India’s Sensex was down less than 0.1%.
U.S. crude oil gained 27 cents to $58.35 per barrel, but is down almost 20% this year. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 26 cents to $61.75 per barrel.
AP video journalist Mayuko Ono in Tokyo contributed to this report.
