Overnight US stocks | Three major stock indexes "fall", bitcoin "rises", gold and silver hit new historical highs again.

On Wednesday, the three major indices fell. The U.S. Supreme Court has not made a ruling on the legality of President Trump's tariff policy, meaning that the fate of this landmark economic policy will not be known until at least next week. The court has not announced the time for the next opinion release, but it may be scheduled for next Tuesday or Wednesday. During a hearing on November 5th, arguments showed that the court was skeptical about whether Trump has the authority to implement tariffs based on a law from 1977. A ruling unfavorable to Trump could result in refunds of over $130 billion. As of the closing bell, the Dow fell 42.36 points, or 0.09%, to 49149.63 points; the Nasdaq dropped 238.12 points, or 1%, to 23471.75 points; and the S&P 500 Index declined 37.14 points, or 0.53%, to 6926.6 points. Broadcom Inc. (AVGO.US) fell 4%, while Intel Corporation (INTC.US) rose 3%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon Index fell 0.23%, Alibaba Group Holding Limited Sponsored ADR (BABA.US) rose 1.7%, and Trip.com Group Ltd. Sponsored ADR (TCOM.US) fell 17%. In Europe, the German DAX30 Index fell 133.91 points, or 0.53%, to 25277.53 points; the UK FTSE 100 Index rose 34.81 points, or 0.34%, to 10172.16 points; the French CAC40 Index dropped 16.23 points, or 0.19%, to 8330.97 points; the Euro Stoxx 50 Index fell 24.58 points, or 0.41%, to 6005.25 points; the Spanish IBEX35 Index rose 13.23 points, or 0.07%, to 17685.53 points; and the Italian FTSE MIB Index rose 91.40 points, or 0.20%, to 45616.50 points. In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin broke through the $97,000 mark, rising over 2% intraday, while Ethereum briefly surpassed $3,400. Metal prices continued their remarkable rise this year, with gold, silver, copper, and tin all reaching historic highs. Investors flocked to these commodities as alternative options to more traditional assets. Spot gold closed up 0.86% at $4626.02, while spot silver surpassed $93. After closing lower on Wednesday, oil prices erased their gains during the regular trading hours. This followed President Trump's statement that he had been informed that Iran would stop killing protesters, indicating he may temporarily hold back military action against Iran's suppression of large-scale domestic demonstrations. WTI crude oil prices for February fell 1.6% to $60.16 per barrel, with the settlement price during regular trading hours at $62.02 per barrel. Brent crude oil for March fell 1.5% to $64.48 per barrel, with the settlement price during regular trading hours at $66.52. In macro news, the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book on the economic situation. The Beige Book showed that economic activity in 8 out of the 12 Federal Reserve districts grew at a slight to moderate pace, while 3 districts reported no change and 1 district reported moderate declines. The outlook for future activities was slightly optimistic, with most districts expecting slight to moderate growth in the coming months. The Beige Book also showed that most banks reported slight to moderate growth in consumer spending in the current period, mainly due to holiday shopping; recent employment conditions remained mostly unchanged, with 8 out of 12 districts reporting no change in hiring activity; prices grew at a moderate pace in most districts, with only two districts reporting slight price increases. Cost pressures due to tariffs were a common issue across all districts. President Trump announced a 25% tariff on imported chips not used for U.S. AI. President Trump stated that after the tariff investigation, all chips imported into the U.S. but not used for domestic AI industries will be subject to a 25% tariff. These tariffs target chips that are "transited" through the U.S., then used in products like data center servers, and finally exported to other countries. "We're going to get 25% on those chips sold," Trump said on Wednesday, and he expects to generate billions in revenue. Trump previously stated that companies investing in America would be exempt from chip tariffs, but he did not mention this potential exemption on Wednesday. Rising risk aversion pushes down U.S. bond yields, with the 30-year bond hitting a new low for the year. As risk aversion increases and bond supply factors impact, U.S. bond prices have risen, leading to a decrease in the 30-year bond yield to the lowest level of the year. Shortly before noon in New York, bond yields for various maturities fell by at least 2 basis points, with the highest drop reaching 4 basis points. The yield on the 30-year bond fell below 4.80% for the first time this year and below the 200-day moving average, marking the first time since early December that the yield is expected to close below that average. Catalysts for this rally include a drop in the U.S. benchmark indices, additional flight to safety due to expectations of U.S. military action against Iran, and the postponing of a ruling on tariffs by the Supreme Court (which improves the U.S. fiscal outlook). Supply considerations also played a role. Strong demand was seen in bond auctions held the previous two days, and the routine bond repurchase operation held at 2:00 PM in New York targeted bonds maturing in 20 to 30 years. Additionally, U.S. bonds were supported by rising U.K. bonds, with the 10-year U.K. bond yield falling to 4.35%, marking a new closing low for over a year. The Iranian Foreign Minister stated that the situation in the country has returned to calm. On January 14th, Iranian Foreign Minister Aragchi stated in an interview that the situation in the country is completely under control and has now returned to calm. In the interview, Aragchi also stated that "certain forces" were trying to create more deaths during the unrest, calling it a "conspiracy by Israel". Recent protests and riots in various parts of Iran have led to casualties. Over the past few days, President Trump has threatened military intervention in the Iranian situation multiple times. In individual stock news: xAI, a company under Elon Musk's AI platform, is under investigation in California for allegedly generating inappropriate images. Grok, a subsidiary of xAI, is accused of generating thousands of inappropriate images involving women and children without permission. California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the investigation on Wednesday. Bonta stated, "I urge xAI to take immediate action to ensure that such incidents do not recur." Musk has faced criticism from governments and regulatory authorities around the world due to Grok's image generation technology. Musk has been defending Grok, attributing the issue to user misuse rather than the technology itself. Musk posted on X on Wednesday, stating, "It is obvious that Grok does not spontaneously generate images, it only generates them based on user requests. As a principle of operation, it will refuse to produce any illegal content when asked to generate images." KeyBanc: Maintained an "overweight" rating on Microsoft Corporation with a target price of $630.