Gold Breaks $4000, AMD Surge Continues, Oracle Sinks

The price of gold has climbed over $4,000 per oz for the first time, reaching a new record high of over $4,040 in early trading on Wednesday, 8 October. The big round-number milestone was reached as investors sought to capitalize on the significant upside momentum that has propelled the precious metal by over 50% this year.

While major US indices pulled back slightly from record highs on Wednesday, they were weighed down by Oracle (ORCL) as concerns about its cloud computing margins sent its shares tumbling. AMD (AMD) was a standout performer, rising for a second day amid optimism over its newly announced partnership with OpenAI.

TL;DR

• Gold breaks above $4,000 for the first time, setting a record high as haven demand surges amid US debt worries and record ETF inflows.

• AMD shares jump again on optimism over its OpenAI deal, which could give the AI firm up to a 10% stake.

• Oracle stock retreats after reports of thin cloud margins despite its massive $300B contract with OpenAI.

Gold Breaks the $4K Mark

The latest push higher into uncharted territory for gold has been supported by political uncertainty around the US government shutdown in concert with the arguably unsustainable rise in US government debt, prompting increased flows from investors into haven assets, including gold ETFs.

Gold ETFs saw record inflows of new capital amounting to $17.3 billion in September according to the World Gold Council. 

The price of gold has been steadily rising over recent years due to increased demand from central banks using it as a reserve asset, diversifying their holdings of US dollars and other major currencies. The rise has been additionally supported by a substantial decline in the value of the US dollar in 2025, which investable gold is primarily denominated in.

The high returns this year, as well as what has been dubbed ‘the debasement trade’ - a hedge against the debasement of fiat currencies through inflation, have enticed speculative flows from active traders and retail investors. (Source: Investopedia)

AMD Stock Gets AI Pop

AMD stock price popped for a second day on Tuesday, gaining 3.83% after a series of broker upgrades, including a $300 price target (up from $170) from analysts at prominent brokerage, Jefferies. That would represent a near 50% upside from Tuesday’s closing price of $211.

On Monday, AMD stock soared 23.7% after the company reached a deal with OpenAI that demonstrated the latter’s rising chances of taking market share back from Nvidia (NVDA) in providing microchips to power AI. As part of the deal, AMD granted OpenAI a warrant for up to 160 million shares, tied to deployment and performance milestones. If fully exercised, it would give OpenAI around a 10% stake in AMD. (Source: CNBC)

Oracle Cloud Computing Margins in Doubt

Shares of Oracle slumped as much as 7% on Tuesday before paring the losses, ending the day down 2.52%. Investors were selling the stock in response to a report citing internal documents that, out of the $900 million in revenues the company generated from renting servers in the three months up to August, the firm only earned around $125 million in gross profit.

The downturn in sentiment follows the massive uptick in the share price in recent weeks, with a 24.4% September surge, driven by news that OpenAI signed a $300 billion deal to rent Oracle’s AI compute capacity from 2027. (Source: Bloomberg)

Conclusion

The market is split between excitement over AI and growing caution about the economy. Gold’s surge past $4,000 shows investors are looking for safety, while AMD’s recent rally highlights the AI boom still driving tech stocks. But Oracle’s drop is a reminder that high growth doesn’t always mean strong profits and that rising risks could quickly test market confidence.

*Past performance does not indicate future results. The above are only projections and should not be taken as investment advice.