U.S. stocks opened higher as investors digested earnings, tariffs and what President Donald Trump‘s pick to replace an outgoing Federal Reserve governor may mean for the economy, interest rates and Bitcoin.
Gold prices climbed to a record high on reports of a new and surprising Trump tariff on the yellow metal.
At 9:39 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow rose 0.24%, or 106.57 points, to 44,075.21; the broad S&P 500 added 0.35%, or 21.93 points, to 6,361.93 and the tech-laden Nasdaq gained 0.37%, or 78.82 points, to 21,321.51. The benchmark 10-year Teasury yield edged up to 4.277%.
Trump chose Stephen Miran, who chairs the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, to serve the roughly six months remaining in the term of former Fed Governor Adriana Kugler, who resigned on Aug. 1. Miran has been a critic of the Fed and a supporter of Bitcoin.
Meanwhile, Expedia, Pinterest, Sweetgreen and Instacart were among the companies that reported after the bell. General Motors also said it would continue to buy Chinese batteries for its electric vehicles despite tariffs.
Gold prices jumped to a record high after the Financial Times said the U.S. put a 39% reciprocal tariff on imports of one-kilo gold bars. This would hit refining hub Switzerland, the Financial Times reported, citing a letter from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Other key refining hubs include Hong Kong and London, where gold is also trading at a discount to the U.S. market, Bloomberg said.
This could cause trouble for U.S.-Switzerland trade talks. Switzerland has the highest country tariff among developed countries, and Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter made an emergency trip to Washington this week to make a deal to reduce it. However, she was denied a meeting with Trump.
Gold was last up 0.75% at $3,479.70 per ounce.
Stephen Miran, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors and Trump’s pick to replace Adriana Kugler as a Fed governor, is a Bitcoin supporter. He has publicly posted supportive comments on social media
“I think that crypto has a big role potentially to play in innovation and ushering in another Trump Administration economic boom,” he previously stated.
Bitcoin was last down 0.7% at $116,695.60. Ethereum hit a seven-month high before retreating 0.06% to $3,911.42.
(This story was updated with new information.)
Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at mjlee@usatoday.com and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday morning.