Stocks, gold and silver steady following wild swings overnight

NEW YORK (AP) — Wild swings that swept through financial markets overnight eased as trading headed westward to Wall Street on Monday. U.S. stocks rose following sharp drops in Asia and then gains in Europe, while gold and silver prices rallied back from severe earlier losses.

The S&P 500 added 0.7% and is on track to snap a three-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 506 points, or 1%, as of 1:05 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% higher.

Stocks of companies that make computer storage helped lead the market, adding to gains from last week following several profit reports that topped analysts' expectations. Airlines and cruise-ship operators were also strong, benefiting from a sharp easing of oil prices.

The center of the action in financial markets was again precious metals, where momentum has suddenly halted after gold’s price had roughly doubled in just 12 months.

Gold briefly dropped below $4,500 per ounce in the overnight hours, down more than $1,000 from its high point reached just last week. It has since pulled back to $4,702.70, down 0.9%.

Silver’s price has been on an even wilder ride recently, and it swung from a 9% loss overnight to a gain of 0.5%.

Gold and silver prices had been surging as investors looked for safer things to own amid a wide range of worries, including a Federal Reserve that may be set to become less independent, a U.S. stock market that critics say is expensive, threats of tariffs and heavy debt loads for governments worldwide.

Their prices cratered on Friday, including a 31.4% plunge for silver. Some on Wall Street saw it as a result of President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Fed. Warsh’s reputation as a former Fed governor may have raised expectations among some investors that he may keep interest rates high to fight against inflation, which would reduce the need to hide out in gold and silver for protection.

But many on Wall Street are also skeptical of that initial reading and say the expectation from Trump is likely that Warsh will cut interest rates, something the president has been demanding. That could give the economy a boost, but also inflation.

The Fed chair has a big influence on the economy and markets worldwide by helping to dictate where the U.S. central bank moves interest rates. That affects prices for all kinds of investments, as the Fed tries to keep the U.S. job market humming without letting inflation get out of control.

The recent swoons for gold and silver are likely more about the washout for some traders who had borrowed money to bet on metals’ prices continuing to soar, rather than about a wholesale change in expectations for demand for metals, according to Darrell Cronk, chief investment officer for Wealth & Investment Management at Wells Fargo

On Wall Street, Sandisk leaped 16.2% to lead the S&P 500. The data-storage company added to its 6.9% gain from Friday, after it reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It credited demand created by the artificial-intelligence boom, among other things.

That helped offset a 0.6% drop for Nvidia, whose chips are powering much of the world’s move into AI technology. The losses were worse in Asia, where AI winners plunged. South Korea’s Kospi fell 5.3% from its record for its worst day in almost 10 months after chip company SK Hynix lost nearly 9%.

The Walt Disney Co. fell 6.9% even though the entertainment giant reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It warned of challenges keeping international visitors away from its U.S. theme parks, among other things.

Oil prices dropped more than 5% after Trump told reporters that Iran is “seriously talking to us.” It’s a potential signal of improving relations between the two countries, which could prevent a possible disruption to the global flow of oil.

That could mean less painful fuel bills for airlines and cruise ships. Carnival steamed 6.8% higher, and United Airlines climbed 5.5%.

In the bond market, Treasury yields edged higher after a report said that U.S. manufacturing grew last month, when economists were expecting a contraction. The yield on the 10-year Treasury erased an earlier dip and rose to 4.27%, up from 4.26% late Friday.

In stock markets abroad, European indexes rose roughly 1% following Asia’s washout. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.3%, while stocks fell 2.2% in Hong Kong and 2.5% in Shanghai.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Trader Michael Capolino works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Robert Charmak works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Traders Drew Cohen, left, and Dylan Halvorsan work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A currency trader talks on the phone near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran said Monday that it had summoned all of the European Union's ambassadors in the country to protest the bloc’s listing of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terror group.

The move came as Turkey tried to organize a meeting between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian officials, seeking to jump-start talks to ease the threat of U.S. military action against Iran, two Turkish officials said.

The American military has moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers into the Middle East. It remains unclear whether U.S. President Donald Trump will decide to use force, as regional countries have engaged in diplomacy.

“Trump is trying to calibrate a response to Iran’s mass killing of protesters that punishes Iranian leaders without also embroiling the United States in a new, open-ended conflict in the region,” the New York-based Soufan Center think tank said Monday.

The 27-nation bloc agreed to list the Guard as a terror group last week over its part in the crackdown on nationwide protests in January that killed thousands of people and saw tens of thousands of others detained.

Other countries, including the U.S. and Canada, have previously designated the Guard as a terrorist organization. While the move is largely symbolic, it does add to the economic pressure squeezing Iran.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told journalists that the ambassadors had begun to be summoned on Sunday and that process went into Monday as well.

“We think that in coming days, a decision will be made about a reciprocal action," Baghaei said.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker said Sunday that the Islamic Republic now considers all EU militaries to be terrorist groups, citing a 2019 law. The European Commission, the bloc's executive branch, said that it was keeping diplomatic channels open with Tehran, despite the tensions, and urged restraint from military action.

The Guard emerged from Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution as a force meant to protect the Shiite cleric-overseen government and was later enshrined in its constitution. It operates in parallel with the country’s regular armed forces and has expanded into private enterprise, allowing it to thrive.

The Guard’s Basij force likely was key in putting down the demonstrations, starting in earnest from Jan. 8, when authorities cut off the internet and international telephone calls for the nation of 85 million people. Videos that have come out of Iran via Starlink satellite dishes and other means show men likely belonging to its forces shooting and beating protesters.

On Monday, the U.K. government joined a number of countries that sanctioned Iran’s interior minister, who oversees the country's police, and nine other Iranians for their alleged role in facilitating the violent crackdown. The individuals were subjected to immediate asset freezes and travel bans.

In Turkey, officials have been trying to organize talks with Iran and Witkoff there, two Turkish officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief journalists. One described the goal as trying to have Witkoff meet the Iranians by the end of the week, if possible.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Witkoff met multiple times last year in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program in Rome and Oman, but never finalized a deal. On June 13, Israel launched a series of attacks on Iran that sparked a 12-day war between the countries, effectively halting those talks. The U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear sites during the war.

Baghaei of the Iranian Foreign Ministry declined to give any specifics about the possibility of talks in Ankara. The U.S. didn't immediately comment on the possible talks.

Axios first reported on the possible talks in Turkey. The Iranian mission to U.N. did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Baghaei also said an exercise by the Guard in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, was “ongoing based on its timetable.”

Iran warned ships last week that a drill would be carried out on Sunday and Monday, but prior to Baghaei's comments hadn't acknowledged it taking place. The U.S. military's Central Command issued a strong warning to Iran not to harass its warships and aircraft, or impede commercial vessels moving through the strait.

Satellite photos taken Sunday by Planet Labs PBC and analyzed by The Associated Press showed small vessels moving at speed in the strait between Iran's Qeshm and Hengam islands, some distance away from the corridor commercial vessels take. The Guard relies on a fleet of small, fast-attack ships in the strait.

Asked about whether Iran could face a war, Baghaei told the public “don't worry at all.” He declined, however, to discuss whether Trump set a deadline for Iran to respond to Washington's demands.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported on Monday that prosecutors in Tehran filed charges against the head of state television's Ofogh channel, as well as producers and the host of a program who mocked those killed in the crackdown.

The program, which aired Saturday, saw the host reference allegations made abroad about Iran hiding bodies of the dead in freezers to bring out as victims if the U.S. attacks the country.

The host asked viewers a multiple-choice question about where Iran would hide the bodies, listing things like ice cream freezers and supermarket refrigerators.

The crackdown on the demonstrations killed at least 6,848 people, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in other rounds of unrest in Iran. It fears even more may be dead. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll. An additional 49,930 people have been arrested, the Human Rights Activists News Agency said.

As of Jan. 21, Iran’s government put the death toll at a far lower 3,117, saying 2,427 were civilians and security forces, labeling the rest “terrorists.” In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest. However, the country's presidency published a list of names Sunday it said belonged to 2,986 of those killed, something it hasn't done in past protests.

Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Sam McNeil in Brussels, and Sylvia Hui in London, contributed to this report.

FILE - Women, one flashing a victory hand gesture, cross a street under a huge banner showing hands firmly holding Iranian national flags as a sign of patriotism, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)