GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks mixed with Nasdaq down; gold prices jump

Major stock indexes were mixed near flat on Wednesday, with declines in shares of SpaceX and Advanced Micro Devices weighing on the market.

Major stock indexes ​were mixed near flat on Wednesday, with declines in shares ‌of ​SpaceX weighing on the Nasdaq, while U.S. oil prices eased. In commodity markets, gold prices rose to their highest level in almost seven weeks following recent talks on Iran. Spot gold was last up 4.09% at $4,242.92 an ounce. Shares of AI and satellite company SpaceX ‌fell more than 8%. The company touted faster-than-expected returns from its AI spending on its first-ever earnings call as a public company, but investors remained concerned about how long its Starlink business could continue to bankroll costly investments.

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices shares were down more than 5% as results that beat analysts' estimates failed to meet investors' lofty expectations. U.S. crude fell 0.15% ‌to $75.64 a barrel and Brent rose to $79.79 per barrel, up 0.54% on the day. A senior Iranian source and two regional officials told Reuters that a proposed deal between ‌Iran and Oman would give Tehran control over ships entering the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, in one of the biggest concessions yet to Iran. Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York, said tech shares are easing after sharp strong gains. "Tech stocks have gone very far in a very short amount of time," he said. "It's gone a little bit too far, too fast. And it's perfectly normal ⁠to see ​some profit taking here before, I think we go ⁠higher... Short term, we're just a little bit overbought." An index of semiconductors is down 0.1% on Wednesday but remains up more than 7% for the week so far. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose ⁠424.80 points, or 0.78%, to 54,509.86, the S&P 500 rose 3.23 points, or 0.04%, to 7,739.40 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 97.21 points, or 0.37%, to 26,487.78. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 5.12 ​points, or 0.45%, to 1,150.81. The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended up 0.04%, eking out a fresh all-time high. Drugmaker Novo Nordisk, one of Europe's biggest companies by ⁠market value, was down after disappointing sales of its Wegovy weight-loss pill overshadowed a strong second-quarter earnings beat. HSBC shares also fell, a day after its results as investors digested analysts' reaction to the figures. Japan's Nikkei rose to ⁠its ​highest since July 23, while South Korea's market continued its volatile run, closing 3.8% higher. Treasury yields were little changed following a benign U.S. quarterly refunding announcement. Investors remained focused on economic data culminating in Friday's July employment report. The 10-year Treasury yield was flat at 4.627%, while the 2-year yield more sensitive to expectations around Federal Reserve policy -- was up ⁠2 basis points at 4.214%.

Markets also lowered the probability of a September Fed rate hike to 57% from 67%. The Japanese yen steadied after historic intervention. Against the Japanese yen, the ⁠dollar weakened 0.03% to 157.67. Japan and the ⁠U.S. launched a rare joint yen-buying intervention last week and pledged further action if necessary to support the currency. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.11% to 99.75, with the euro up ‌0.13% at $1.1544.