Gold, Silver Rally To Record Highs In Sync, Small Caps Surge: What's Moving Markets Monday?

Precious metals continue to command the spotlight as Christmas week tees off with gold and silver surging to fresh record highs.

Plus, all major U.S. equity benchmarks are extending gains for a third consecutive session as markets head into a seasonally strong stretch of the calendar.

• Gold jumped 2.3% to $4,440 per ounce, marking its strongest daily advance in more than a month. Year to date, gold has gained 67%,
• Silver rallied 2.1%, pushing closer to the psychologically important $70 level. Year-to-date silver has delivered nearly double that return, soaring 133%.
• Shares of gold and silver miners – tracked by the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (ARCA: and the Global X Silver Miners ETF (ARCA: SLV) rocketed 3.6% and 5%, respectively.

Midday Trading In New York:

• The Russell 2000 climbed 1.6%.
• The S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 6,875, trading less than 1% below record highs.
• The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 added 0.5%.

The session was light on catalysts. Both macroeconomic releases and corporate earnings were absent, leaving investors focused on positioning ahead of Tuesday's second estimate of third-quarter GDP. Treasury yields were little changed. The 10-year note hovered around 4.15%.

Defensive sectors lagged as risk appetite improved. Consumer staples slid 1%, the weakest performer on the day. Utilities, real estate and health care also traded modestly lower.

Paramount Skydance Corp. (NYSE:PSKY) adjusted its hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD), maintaining its $30-per-share all-cash offer worth about $108.4 billion and securing a roughly $40.4 billion irrevocable personal guarantee from Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

Paramount shares jumped 5% on the announcement, while Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) slipped 0.8%. In digital assets, Bitcoin advanced 1% to $89,600, tracking the broader risk-on tone in markets.

In digital assets, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) advanced 1% to $89,600, heading for the fourth straight positive close.

Monday's Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) flattened at $688.57.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) moved 0.6% to $484.46.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) eased 0.6% to $255.11.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) traded at $257.23.
• The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLF) outperformed, up 0.9%;
• The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) lagged, down 1.0%.

Russell 1000's Top 5 Gainers On Monday

…And Losers

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