NEW YORK, May 15, 2026, 18:03 EDT
Dollar climbs for fifth day, gold slips, Nasdaq breaks streakThe dollar gained for a fifth day on Friday, while gold fell to its lowest in over a week. Higher oil prices, firm U.S. data and surging Treasury yields pushed investors to reconsider how the Federal Reserve could move next. U.S. stocks dropped, and the Nasdaq ended its six-week run of gains.
Stocks had been pushing higher on tech strength, but the jump in inflation signals is starting to cut through. The 10-year Treasury yield hit a one-year high. Traders also boosted wagers on the Fed raising rates instead of cutting them later this year.
Oil jumped. U.S. crude closed up 4.2% at $105.42 a barrel, while Brent added 3.35% to $109.26. Traders pointed to rising doubts about a fast return to regular traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and little sign of quick resolution in the Iran conflict. Higher oil pushes up inflation, making rate cuts less likely.
Dollar index added 0.32% to 99.27, hitting 99.302 earlier, Reuters said. Euro dropped to $1.1623, down to a five-week low. The dollar moved up to 158.74 yen, maintaining pressure on Japanese officials as intervention talk continues.
Joseph Trevisani, senior analyst at FXStreet in New York, said the “bond market’s leading the charge” as oil and inflation expectations are shifting. Erik Nelson, head of G10 FX strategy at Wells Fargo, sees things differently, writing that dollar strength could “fizzle out” unless the Fed confirms rate-hike pricing. Reuters
Gold dropped. Spot gold slid 2% to $4,557.61 an ounce at 2:06 p.m. EDT, and U.S. June gold futures closed down 2.7% at $4,561.90. Gold has no yield, so when bond yields climb, owning gold gets more expensive.
Precious metals saw a broad selloff with the dollar up and global yields pushing higher, Edward Meir at Marex said. Silver dropped 7.7% to $77.07 an ounce, platinum slipped 3.6%, and palladium was down 1.5%. StoneX’s Rhona O’Connell called silver “overbought” and said a correction was due. Reuters
Dollar climbed to a 2-1/2-week high after U.S. manufacturing numbers topped forecasts and the 10-year Treasury yield hit 4.58%, the highest in nearly a year, Rich Asplund at Barchart said. COMEX June gold dropped 2.65%. July COMEX silver sank 9.46% on the session, according to Barchart.
Bond traders got more signals after some fresh figures. The New York Fed’s Empire State manufacturing index jumped nine points to 19.6 for May—highest in over four years. Separately, the Federal Reserve reported U.S. manufacturing output increased 0.6% in April.
Volatility picked up with bonds moving into equities. MarketScreener, quoting MT Newswires, reported the Cboe Volatility Index surged 9.2% to 18.84 early Friday as stronger Fed rate-hike bets boosted the dollar. After the close, Cboe data showed the VIX spot at $18.43, up 6.78%.
Stocks on Wall Street saw a sharp drop. The Dow slid 537.29 points, or 1.07%, to 49,526.17. The S&P 500 was down 1.24% at 7,408.50, while the Nasdaq lost 1.54% to 26,225.15. Energy shares managed a gain of 2.3%, but the other 10 key S&P 500 sectors closed lower.
Chip stocks that had driven gains earlier took the brunt of the latest selloff, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down 4%. Nvidia dropped 4.4%, AMD fell 5.7% and Intel was down 6.2%, according to Reuters. Microsoft gained 3.1% after Pershing Square revealed a new stake.
Kenny Polcari, chief market strategist at Slatestone Wealth, said the AI trade ran “way ahead of itself” and the market has been ignoring bonds and economic data. Matthew Keator at the Keator Group said the Trump-Xi meeting was more of a reset than something that would drive quick results. Reuters
The market might be getting ahead of itself betting on a Fed pivot that may not happen, or could be missing the risk that a prolonged oil shock keeps inflation higher. New York Fed President John Williams said late Thursday he doesn’t see a reason to shift rate policy now. CME’s FedWatch tool had traders putting the odds of at least a quarter-point hike in December at 49.5%, up sharply from 14.3% last week.
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