Silver Breaks $101, Intel Stock Plunges 17%: Markets Today - SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (ARCA:DIA), iShares Russell 2000 ETF (ARCA:IWM), Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 (NASDAQ:QQQ)

Precious Metals - Silver surged through the $100-per-ounce threshold, trading around $101 per ounce, marking a 230% gain over the past year [1] - Gold approached the $5,000-per-ounce level, which is nearly 80 percentage points higher than a year earlier [1] - Palladium increased by 6%, surpassing $2,000 per ounce for the first time since November 2022, while platinum rose 5% to all-time highs above $2,700 per ounce [2] Energy Prices - Henry Hub natural gas rose by 2% to $5.15 per million British thermal units, with week-to-date gains exceeding 60%, marking the strongest weekly surge on record due to extreme cold weather in America [3] - Crude prices also advanced, with WTI rising more than 2% to near $61 a barrel [3] Stock Market Performance - The S&P 500 traded broadly flat, while the Nasdaq 100 rose by 0.5%, and small caps lagged with the Russell 2000 falling by 0.6% [4] - The energy sector led the market for a second consecutive session, reaching levels last seen in 2014, while financials underperformed [4] Earnings and Major Movers - Intel Corp. experienced a significant decline of over 17% after issuing weak first-quarter 2026 guidance, marking its worst session since August 2024 [5] - In the Russell 1000, top gainers included Corcept Therapeutics Inc. (+6.71%) and Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. (+6.40%), while top losers included Intel Corp. (-16.91%) and First Citizens BancShares Inc. (-8.88%) [6][8]