Silver Jumps 6%, Platinum Up 8%, Palladium Up 11% As Metal Shock Erupts: What's Moving Markets Friday?

Market Overview - Wall Street experienced a subdued trading session with low liquidity and volumes following the Christmas market closure, while precious and industrial metals saw significant price movements [1] - Silver prices surged over 6%, surpassing $76 an ounce, driven by a supply crunch in Asian markets [1] Precious Metals Performance - Silver's year-to-date gains reached approximately 164%, marking its strongest annual performance since 1978 [2] - Platinum prices increased by more than 8%, and palladium rose over 11%, with the Aberdeen Physical Platinum Shares ETF up 165% year to date, indicating platinum is on track for its best year on record [3] - Gold prices rose 1.3% to above $4,550 an ounce, while copper climbed 4.6%, recovering from a sharp selloff in July [3] Energy Market Insights - WTI crude oil prices slipped more than 1% amid progress in peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine [4] Equity Market Highlights - Freeport-McMoRan Inc., a copper producer, led the S&P 500 with a gain of about 3% [4] - Target Corp. increased by 2.1% following the disclosure of new stakes by activist investors [4] - Nvidia Corp. rose over 1% after analysts praised its $20 billion strategic deal with AI startup Groq, which is expected to enhance Nvidia's competitive position in artificial intelligence [5] Major Indices Performance - The S&P 500 traded flat near 5,930 points after reaching an intraday record of 5,945, on track for its eighth consecutive monthly gain, the longest winning streak since 2018 [6] - Bitcoin traded around $87,000, showing little change [6] Index Performance Summary - Nasdaq 100: 25,672.66 (+0.10%) [7] - S&P 500: 6,933.20 (+0.02%) [7] - Dow Jones Industrial Average: 48,688.73 (-0.09%) [7] - Russell 2000: 2,529.80 (-0.72%) [7] ETF Performance - Vanguard S&P 500 ETF: flat at $634.23 [10] - SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average: down 0.2% to $486.17 [10] - Invesco QQQ Trust Series: eased 0.02% to $623.81 [10] - iShares Russell 2000 ETF: traded at $250.96 [11] - Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund: up 0.3% [11] - Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund: down 0.6% [11]