The U.S. Dollar Hits a Two-Month High as U.S. Stocks, Bonds, Gold, and Oil Slide

Market Overview

In the absence of new U.S. macroeconomic data, investor concerns over a potential market bubble deepened, prompting a wave of profit-taking. U.S. equities fell after the opening bell; although late gains in Microsoft lifted indices off their lows, all three major benchmarks still finished in the red.

Sector-wise, investors rotated out of cyclical names and into defensive plays, while the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants showed mixed performance.

U.S. Treasuries also came under pressure, with yields on major maturities rising 1–2 basis points. In the foreign-exchange market, the U.S. dollar index surged 0.72%, breaking above the 99 level to reach its highest point in more than two months.

Cryptocurrencies weakened as both Bitcoin and Ethereum slipped in choppy trading.

In commodities, a stronger dollar combined with reports of peace talks between Israel and Hamas pushed precious metals lower. Gold dropped 1.70%, falling back below the USD 4,000 mark; silver, after a historic breakout above USD 51, reversed sharply in highly volatile action. WTI crude oil also declined more than 1.3% on the day.

Hot Topics AheadWho‘s Driving Gold’s New Highs？

Since August, golds rally has been largely driven by financial investors—particularly the rebound in ETF inflows.

Analysis of three high-frequency indicators reveals:

• Western markets have regained leadership in ETF inflows, shifting the pricing narrative from de-dollarization to rate-cut expectations;

• COMEX speculative (“fast-money”) positions have decoupled from spot price movement;

• The Shanghai gold premium turned from positive to negative, signaling cooling demand outside the U.S. and renewed dominance of Western capital in global gold investment.

OpenAI May Have More Big Deals Coming

Recent headline-grabbing partnerships between OpenAI and Nvidia, Oracle, and AMD may be only the beginning.

On October 8, TechCrunch reported that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on a podcast: “In the next few months, you can expect more deals like these.”

He explained that given the company‘s strong confidence in the capabilities of its upcoming models and the enormous demand they’ll create, “we‘ve decided it’s time to make a very aggressive infrastructure bet.”

Key Events to Watch (GMT+8)

• 21:45 U.S. — 2025 FOMC voter and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee delivers opening remarks and moderates a discussion at a community-bank conference.

• 22:00 U.S. — Preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index and one-year inflation expectations for October.

• 01:00 U.S. — FOMC voter Goolsbee continues remarks at the same community-bank event (overnight session).