Stocks fall but gold preparing for “healthy rally”

Stocks mostly fell on Thursday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent, ending its record-breaking run. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose less than 0.1 percent to close at another record high.

The STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.4 percent, ending its seven-day winning streak.

Asian stocks were mixed. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.5 percent but the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng indices rose 0.5 percent.

Some analysts are unperturned by the end of the S&P 500's record-breaking streak.

“We’ve had a big run in the near term, so some weakness is normal especially if you want the bull run to continue,” said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist for LPL Financial.

Others are less sanguine.

“This rally may come to a quick end if expectations for a March rate hike begin increasing,” warned ADS Securities researcher Konstantinos Anthis in a note on Thursday.

While stocks fell on Thursday, oil rose 0.5 percent and gold rose 0.7 percent to its highest finish in more than three months.

“The dollar is weaker, Treasury yields are down and stocks are lower,” said Michael Armbruster, principal and co-founder at Altavest. “That is a nice trifecta for gold.”

Ned Schmidt, editor of The Value View Gold Report, said that the “odds still favor gold and silver beating the U.S. equity market in 2017”.

And in an article at ValueWalk, Jeffrey Nichols, Senior Economic Advisor to Rosland Capital, thinks that gold is “preparing for a healthy rally into higher territory”.