Wall Street is on track for its worst month in 2024 as growing inflation fears and escalating geopolitical tensions weigh on investors' sentiment. With just a day left in the month, the S&P 500 dropped 2.7%, potentially its sharpest decline since September 2023. The Nasdaq Composite experienced a 2.4% decrease, setting it on course for its worst performance since October 2023. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 3.8%, marking its most significant monthly drop since February 2023, per Dow Jones market Data.
The decline has been broad-based. Still, a few corners of the broad market, especially mining, have gained. The uncertainty around Fed rate hikes and the current geopolitical situation has brought back the allure of metals, boosting their demand. In particular, two precious metals — gold and silver — have been rising on safe-haven demand as both are considered as a store of wealth for investors. They are often used as a means of preserving wealth during times of financial and political uncertainty and usually do well when other asset classes struggle. Factors such as the forthcoming U.S. presidential election, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict enhance both metals' attractiveness to investors.
Copper and aluminum, the most used industrial metals, have also gained substantially this month on tightening supply conditions and a resurgence in manufacturing activity in the world's largest economies like the United States and China leading to a surge in demand. The Western ban ...