Producers of metals and other raw materials rose as optimism about the outlook for economic growth offset a slide in precious-metals prices.
Accelerated distribution of vaccines and continued negotiations on an economic-stimulus bill have spurred hopes for improved economic growth worldwide this year.
"We don't think the modest selloff in the S&P 500 is indicative of a fundamental shift in the outlook for the economy and corporate profits," said strategists at money manager UBS Global Wealth Management, in a note to clients.
The price of silver dropped by about 7% on futures markets as an attempt by day traders to orchestrate a "short squeeze" in the commodity appeared to fail.
Reddit-inspired traders wreaked havoc on global markets when they succeeded in forcing short-sellers to buy back bets against GameStop last week. This week, however, the day traders' hold on markets loosened.
The iShares Silver Fund, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the price of silver, took in a net $868 million Friday, its biggest one-day influx since it was created in 2006. A further $511 million entered the fund Monday, when silver futures prices posted their biggest one-day advance in over a decade and hit an eight-year high.
But the boost to the price of silver from the orchestrated pumping of money into the ETF was always going to be temporary, given day traders' inability to corner the market in physical silver.
A recent rally in global steel prices reflected supply curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic and will likely be short lived, according to analysts at credit-ratings agency Fitch Ratings.
Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-02-21 1635ET
