Dow closes up 1% as Nasdaq slips and gold gives up gains

Key Facts

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1% at 52,495.88 points on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, according to the Associated Press, as gains in healthcare, financial and industrial stocks offset continued pressure on technology. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to finish at 7,712.57 points, extending the recovery recorded in the previous session. The Nasdaq diverged from the other two indexes, closing down less than 0.1% at 26,424.82 points, the agency said. The mixed close followed losses in U.S. stocks the previous week led by technology shares, according to Investing.com. The Dow was the strongest performer among the indexes cited during Tuesday's session, while the Nasdaq's advance stalled after its rise on Monday.

On Monday, October 19, the S&P 500 rose 0.41%, according to Investing.com's report on Wall Street's recovery from the previous week's losses. The Nasdaq gained 1.11% in the same session, outpacing the broader index before slipping slightly the following day. The stock market recovery extended into Tuesday, supported by sectors outside technology, although the indexes ended the session in different directions. The report cited "gains in healthcare, financial and industrial stocks," which helped offset continued pressure on technology shares during trading. The two indexes thus switched places in terms of relative performance, with the Nasdaq posting the larger gain on Monday, while the S&P 500 recorded gains on Tuesday.

In the gold market, the precious metal turned lower during the session after initially rising as oil prices moved into negative territory, according to Investing.com. Gold then surrendered its gains as oil pared losses, ending the advance seen earlier in the day. In a late update at 19:31 GMT, spot gold fell 0.4% to $4,122.41 an ounce, according to the platform. The move came against a monetary policy backdrop in which the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in September, according to a Reuters report published by Investing.com. The increase amounted to 25 basis points, lifting the U.S. interest rate range to 3.75%-4.00% ahead of the committee's scheduled October meeting.

On the U.S. economy, Census Bureau data showed housing starts fell 5.2% in September from the revised August level to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,221,000 units. Compared with the same month a year earlier, housing starts declined 7.4%, alongside the monthly drop. Building permits also fell 0.2% from the revised August level, according to the bureau. Permits reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,400,000 units in September, remaining above the level of housing starts. The monthly decline in housing starts exceeded the drop in permits, while starts fell on both a monthly and annual basis.

The next monetary policy milestone is the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on October 27-28, according to the meeting schedule published by the Federal Reserve. The meeting follows September's increase, which brought the interest rate range to its current level, and a session in which stocks were mixed and gold fell in late trading. After the October meeting, the central bank's schedule lists December 8-9 as the dates of the committee's next meeting. The December meeting will be accompanied by a Summary of Economic Projections, according to the Federal Reserve's official calendar. These dates mark the upcoming October meeting and the December meeting accompanied by projections, following the central bank's September rate increase.

On the near-term release calendar, the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly petroleum report is normally due on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time, according to the agency. The release follows a session in which gold's reversal from gains to losses was linked to oil's change in direction and narrowing losses, according to Investing.com. In housing, September new home sales data are scheduled for release on October 27, 2026, according to the Census Bureau's calendar. The release coincides with the start of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting scheduled for the same month. The bureau will then publish October new residential construction data on November 18, 2026, following September figures that showed declines in housing starts and building permits.