Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferré reports:

Gold futures (GC=F) hovered at a one-week high to trade near $2,630 per ounce on Tuesday as traders assessed the specter of a nuclear escalation within the Russia-Ukraine war.

The dear metal prolonged its gains from Monday as investors flocked to the asset traditionally seen as a refuge during times of geopolitical uncertainty.

On Tuesday Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine, which formally lowered the edge for Russia’s use of its nuclear weapons. The move followed a choice by the Biden administration to permit Ukraine’s use of long range US-made missiles to strike deep into Russia.

“Geopolitical risks have reemerged, driving demand for gold and solidifying its role as a reliable hedging asset,” Ahmad Assiri, research strategist at foreign exchange broker Pepperstone, said in a note on Tuesday.

Gold had been on a tear up until the US elections on Nov. 5. It has since fallen because the US dollar (DX-Y.NYB) strengthened. Still, the dear metal is up about 27% year-to-date, beating the S&P 500’s (^GSPC) gain of 23% over the identical period as central banks have boosted their gold reserves.

Read more here.

It was a tale of two retailers this morning … Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma reports:

Walmart (WMT), the world’s biggest retailer, posted fiscal third quarter results that easily beat Wall Street expectations as inflation-weary shoppers proceed to go looking for value. The stock popped over 3%.

Sales of $169.59 billion topped analyst estimates for $167.5 billion. Adjusted earnings per share eclipsed estimates by 5 cents at $0.58.

The corporate also raised its guidance for fiscal 12 months 2025 for the third time.

Read more here.

Lowe’s (LOW) stock fell nearly 5% shortly after the opening bell as investors honed in on continued negative sales growth, despite results that beat the Street’s estimates.

The house improvement retailer posted revenue of $20.17 billion, in comparison with estimates of $19.93 billion. Adjusted earnings per share got here in at $2.89, versus the $2.82 expected.

Same-store sales fell 1.1%, lower than the two.7% decline anticipated. The corporate alluded to ongoing softness within the “DIY bigger-ticker discretionary demand,” which was offset by hurricane-related recovery efforts following Hurricanes Helene and Milton and positive same-store sales in its Pro business and online.

Read more here.

Housing starts fell in October, pressured by a drop in single-family construction.

Data from the Census Bureau showed housing starts dropped 3.1% in October to an annual rate of 1.311 million units. Meanwhile, single-family housing starts slipped 6.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 970,000 units, unchanged from a 12 months ago.

The decline got here as mortgage rates have been climbing, with the common 30-year fixed loan hovering around 6.7%. Rates on a house loan are inclined to follow US Treasury yields, which have been rising since mid-September partly on account of investor anticipation of Trump’s victory and his proposed policies around taxes and tariffs.

Higher rates also likely discouraged builders from filing constructing permits in the course of the month.

Contract permits for single family dwellings fell to a pace of 968,000, a 0.5% drop from September’s revised figure of 963,000.

“Major storms likely stalled the beginnings of some residential projects, causing a steep decline in construction within the southeast,” Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial, wrote after the discharge.

“Each housing starts and constructing permits declined in October as several homebuilders appeared to carry back the beginning of projects until after the election. Nevertheless, more moderen surveys showed a rebound in homebuilder confidence.”

US stocks fell on the open on Tuesday after President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine, allowing Russia to expand its use of atomic weapons in a possible escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) led the declines, down about 0.8%. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) slid roughly 0.5% to fall below its election breakout level, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also dropped around 0.5% on the heels of a mixed day for the foremost gauges.

Super Micro Computer (SMCI), an AI server maker and Nvidia (NVDA) partner, soared over 25% premarket Tuesday. The sprint higher got here after the corporate on Monday submitted a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission saying that it’s supplied a compliance plan with the Nasdaq to avoid delisting.

Also boosting the stock, Super Micro said it’s hired a latest auditor, BDO, after its prior accountant, Ernst & Young, resigned in late October.

The corporate was in hot water with the Nasdaq after delaying each its annual and quarterly filings to the SEC following a scathing report from short-selling firm Hindenburg Research. The report make clear potential accounting malpractices, violations of export controls, and shady relationships between top executives and Super Micro partners. The corporate is reportedly being investigated by the Department of Justice.

Even with this week’s surge, shares have tumbled roughly 56% over the past three months. After gaining as much as 300% earlier this 12 months, SMCI stock is now down over 20% in 2024.

Read the total story here.

Walmart (WMT) has worked very diligently behind the scenes the past two years to be a serious player online. The retailer has expanded its assortment online and has fine-tuned its “buy online, pick up in store” functionality — amongst other initiatives.

The efforts proceed to point out up on earnings days.

Listed here are the corporate’s e-commerce results by division for the third quarter reported this morning:

These results are eye-popping for 2 reasons: 1) Walmart is not exactly a startup; 2) the competition online is as fierce as ever.

I’m talking to Walmart CFO John David Rainey live at 9:15 a.m. ET on Yahoo Finance. Rest assured, we are going to ask him about these online sales numbers!

Hat tip to Goldman Sachs’s chief US equity strategist David Kostin for calling out specific stocks in his 2025 outlook piece that just dropped.

So often these year-end artistic endeavors from investment bank strategists simply serve up S&P 500 (^GSPC) targets, with various underlying scenarios explained. But often, no stock predictions.

Kostin is looking out one other 12 months of strong performance for the Mag 7 trade, just not as hot as recent years.

Says Kostin:

It’s an excellent point by Kostin, and is available in the face of all these Mag 7 stocks trading at wealthy multiples on hearty outlooks for profit growth. There is barely thus far you possibly can push a stock price using reasonable future financial assumptions!

You possibly can toil around on Mag 7 valuations on Yahoo Finance’s latest stock comparison tool here.

As I noted on Monday in our blog, expectations on Nvidia’s (NVDA) earnings and outlook are very robust … to say the very least.

If there’s one thing that might trip up the bullish trade the morning after earnings, it’s Nvidia’s guidance. While it should likely be above consensus, it is probably not above consensus enough given the dynamics around Blackwell chip demand. Nvidia could opt to go stronger with guidance when it reports three months from now or so.

Vital point on this from Stifel analyst Ruben Roy this morning in a note: