U.S. stock indexes, bonds steady

The benchmark S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial average inched up 0.16% and 0.17% respectively to record closing highs of 6,977.27 and 49,590.20

U.S. stock indexes and government bonds steadied on Monday as traders digested the Trump administration’s threat to indict the ​central bank, although renewed questions about the independence of the country’s central bank weighed on its currency and boosted gold.

Central bank chair Jerome Powell delivered ‌an unusually full-throated rejection of the Department of Justice’s service of grand jury subpoenas, adding to what Morgan Stanley analysts called a “cacophony of market-moving events” to start what is only the second full week of 2026.

The benchmark S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial average inched up 0.16% and 0.17% respectively to record closing highs of 6,977.27 and 49,590.20.

The Nasdaq Composite added ‌0.26% on the day, buoyed by retail giant Walmart, which moved its listing there last month.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes ​advanced 1.8 basis points to 4.189%, having hit 4.207% during the session.

Any time you have a new angle on something, the market reads it, trades on it a little bit, it has to digest it, and then it realizes this is just new news that’s consistent with prior events that have come out, said Jim Barnes, director ‍of fixed income at Bryn Mawr Trust in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.

It feels as if the central bank is a tough institution to break, and so this is going to keep going on, though it’s not going to go away, the persistencies will probably be there and the market is just going to have to take it in stride, he said.

The dollar felt some pain, with the index that measures the dollar against ⁠a basket of major currencies, dropping 0.34% to 98.90, with the euro up 0.25% at $1.1666.

This just ended the dollar’s New Year bounce, said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at ‍Bannockburn Global Forex in New York. The subpoenas have probably overwhelmed the geopolitics.

Gold hit a record high above $4,600 an ounce during the session but retreated to last be seen 1.84% higher at $4,592.55.