European markets rebounded from early-session losses on Monday as the selling pressure on precious metals showed signs of abating. By 1:00 PM GMT, the Europe Stoxx 600 index had recovered its early losses, ultimately closing up 0.5%. Other major European indices also pared their declines, with the UK's FTSE and France's CAC 40 both gaining approximately 0.5% by the close, while Germany's DAX index surged 0.7% late in the session. The technology sector emerged as the worst-performing segment in Europe, declining 0.7% overall. Chip giant ASML fell 1.8%, while BE Semiconductor and ASM International both dropped around 2%. European markets had experienced significant declines earlier on Monday, aligning with the broader global market trend. Silver, which had more than doubled over the past 12 months, plummeted roughly 30% on Friday, marking its worst single-day performance since 1980. On Monday, spot gold fell approximately 3.4% to $4,698 per ounce, while spot silver was down 4.6% late in the day, trading around $80. Asia-Pacific markets also retreated overnight, with South Korea's main index leading the decline, as investors continued to monitor the movements in gold and silver prices following Friday's sharp sell-off. Concurrently, U.S. stock index futures weakened on Sunday evening, influenced by a weekend sell-off in Bitcoin. The price of Bitcoin fell below the $80,000 threshold on Saturday, hitting its lowest level since last April, a move indicating that investors were further de-risking following the significant precious metals decline on Friday. Meanwhile, Wall Street's attention remained fixed on Nvidia, as doubts surfaced regarding the sustainability of the artificial intelligence boom. According to The Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources, Nvidia's plan to invest $100 billion in OpenAI has been put on hold, with the chip giant's executives expressing skepticism about the deal, causing its pre-market stock price to drop 2%.
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