Wall Street drifts as Intel tumbles and gold's price rises to another
record
[January 24, 2026] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market drifted through mixed trading
Friday, as a zigzag week punctuated by loud threats and pullbacks
finished with a quiet and tentative close.
The S&P 500 was basically flat and edged up by less than 0.1% but still
notched a second straight week with a modest loss. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average dipped 285 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite
rose 0.3%.
The majority of stocks on Wall Street fell, and Intel weighed on the
market after tumbling 17%. The chip company reported better results for
the end of 2025 than analysts expected. But investors focused instead on
its forecast for the first three months of this year, which fell short
of Wall Street’s expectations.
Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner said shortages of supplies are
affecting the entire industry, and Intel expects available supply to hit
a bottom early this year before improving in the spring and beyond. CEO
Lip-Bu Tan highlighted the company’s opportunities created by the
artificial-intelligence era.
Moves in the U.S. bond market were relatively modest following sharp
swings early in the week, but other markets still showed potential signs
of nervousness.
The U.S. dollar’s value fell against the Japanese yen, Swiss franc and
other currencies. It had slid sharply early in the week after President
Donald Trump threatened 10% tariffs on European countries for opposing
his push to own Greenland.
That drop, paired with declines for prices for U.S. Treasury bonds, had
suggested global investors may be backing out of U.S. markets. But some
relief came on Wednesday after Trump announced “the framework of a
future deal with respect to Greenland” and called off the tariffs,
though few details are available about it.
Gold’s price, meanwhile, rose to another record Friday and neared $5,000
per ounce in a signal that investors are still looking for something
safer to own. It’s already up nearly 15% for the year so far.
On Wall Street, Capital One Financial sank 7.6% after reporting a weaker
profit for the end of 2025 than analysts expected. It also said it was
buying Brex, which helps businesses issue corporate credit cards, for
$5.15 billion in cash and stock.
On the winning side of the market was CSX, which climbed 2.4% even
though the railroad reported a weaker profit than analysts expected.
Some analysts highlighted the company’s forecast for how much more
operating profit it expects to retain from each $1 of revenue during
2026.
Clorox gained 1.1% after saying it was buying the maker of Purell, GOJO
Industries, for $2.25 billion in cash.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 2.26 points to 6,915.61. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average fell 285.30 to 49,098.71, and the Nasdaq composite
rose 65.22 to 23,501.24.
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Chris Dattolo, center, works with fellow options traders on the
floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP
Photo/Richard Drew)
 In the bond market, Treasury yields
inched lower as prices for U.S. government bonds rose.
A survey of U.S. consumers said expectations for inflation in the
upcoming year improved to 4%. That’s the lowest such reading in a
year, according to the University of Michigan’s survey, even it
remains well above the 2% inflation that the Federal Reserve
targets.
That kind of improvement could help avoid a worst-case scenario the
Fed has been desperate to avoid, one where expectations for high
inflation trigger a vicious cycle of behavior that only worsens
inflation.
Overall sentiment among U.S. consumers was also a touch stronger
than economists expected. That could help keep them spending and the
main engine of the U.S. economy humming. A separate preliminary
report from S&P Global suggested growth is continuing for U.S.
business activity.
The yield of the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.23% from 4.26% late
Thursday.
The Fed’s next chance to move the short-term interest rate it
controls will come on Wednesday, but the widespread expectation is
that it will hold steady.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe after rising
across much of Asia.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.3% after the Bank of Japan kept its key
interest rate unchanged, as many investors expected. The central
bank has been slowly pulling its policy rate higher from below zero
and had raised it to 0.75% in December.
Global markets have calmed after struggling with a quick surge for
long-term government bond yields in Japan early in the week. The
move higher came on worries that Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae
Takaichi might make moves that would add heavily to the government’s
already big debt.
___
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
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