Sometimes the most interesting market action happens when nobody's really paying attention. Wall Street spent Friday in sleepy post-Christmas mode, with thin liquidity and low trading volumes, the kind of day where most traders are still working through leftover holiday cookies. But over in the metals markets? Absolute chaos.
By midday in New York, silver prices — tracked by the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) — had rocketed more than 6% higher, blasting through $76 an ounce. The culprit? An intensifying supply crunch rippling across Asian markets that's making the white metal increasingly hard to come by.
Here's the wild part: that surge pushed silver's year-to-date gains to roughly 164%. To put that in perspective, this is silver's strongest annual performance since 1978. Yes, the disco era. If you've been sitting on silver this year, congratulations — you've basically won the investing lottery.
But silver wasn't flying solo in this metals frenzy. Platinum jumped more than 8%, while palladium absolutely exploded with gains exceeding 11%. The Aberdeen Physical Platinum Shares ETF (PPLT) is up a staggering 165% year to date, putting platinum on track for its best year on record. When was the last time you heard anyone get excited about platinum? Exactly.
Gold, not wanting to be left out of the party, pushed to fresh highs with a 1.3% gain to above $4,550 an ounce. Meanwhile, copper climbed 4.6%, fully recovering from the sharp selloff we saw back in July. Industrial metals, precious metals, all the metals — apparently everyone wanted a piece of the action Friday.
Energy Markets Move on Peace Talk Optimism
While metals traders were having the time of their lives, energy markets told a different story. WTI crude slipped more than 1.5% as investors digested signs of progress on peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet President Donald Trump at the White House on Sunday, and markets are pricing in the possibility of de-escalation.
Stock Market Stays Calm Amid the Metal Storm
Back in equities land, the big beneficiary of all this metals madness was Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX), the copper producer, which led the S&P 500 with gains of about 3%. Makes sense — when copper rallies nearly 5%, copper miners tend to have a good day.
Target Corp. (TGT) followed with a 2.1% gain after activist investors disclosed new stakes in the retailer. Nothing lights a fire under a stock quite like activists showing up with ideas about how to "unlock value."
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) rose more than 1% after Wall Street analysts welcomed news of the company's reported $20 billion strategic deal with AI startup Groq. Analysts say the move will further strengthen Nvidia's competitive moat in artificial intelligence, which at this point might as well be the size of the Grand Canyon.
The S&P 500 itself traded essentially flat near 5,930 points, though it did manage to touch a fresh intraday record of 5,945 earlier in the session. The index is on track to post its eighth consecutive monthly gain — the longest winning streak since 2018. Apparently the market's New Year's resolution is to just keep climbing.
In the crypto corner, Bitcoin (BTC) traded little changed around $87,000, seemingly unbothered by all the excitement happening in traditional commodities.
Friday's Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs
| Index | Price | % Change |
|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq 100 | 25,672.66 | +0.10% |
| S&P 500 | 6,933.20 | +0.02% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 48,688.73 | -0.09% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,529.80 | -0.72% |
Looking at the major ETFs, the picture was similarly muted. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) was flat at $634.23. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) moved 0.2% lower to $486.17. The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (QQQ) eased 0.02% to $623.81. The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) traded at $250.96.
Among sector ETFs, the Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLB) outperformed with a 0.3% gain — no surprise given the metals rally. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) lagged, down 0.6%, as crude oil prices declined.
Russell 1000's Top 5 Gainers And Losers On Friday
| Stock Name | % Change |
|---|---|
| Coupang, Inc. (CPNG) | +9.37% |
| Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX) | +3.03% |
| Pure Storage, Inc. (PSTG) | +2.58% |
| F&G Annuities & Life, Inc. (FG) | +2.45% |
| Celsius Holdings, Inc. (CELH) | +2.21% |
| Stock Name | % Change |
|---|---|
| Rocket Lab Corporation (RKLB) | -6.71% |
| AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (ASTS) | -5.44% |
| Moderna, Inc. (MRNA) | -4.29% |
| Texas Pacific Land Corporation (TPL) | -3.86% |
| Bullish (BLSH) | -3.73% |
Among individual movers in the Russell 1000, Coupang led gainers with a 9.37% surge, while space stocks had a rough day, with Rocket Lab Corporation down 6.71% and AST SpaceMobile falling 5.44%.
The bottom line? While most of Wall Street was still in holiday mode, the metals markets decided to throw their own party. And what a party it was.