Gold and silver saw their steepest selloff in years as investors apparently decided that the recent rally left them overvalued. Spot gold prices slumped as much as 6.3%, the biggest decline in more than 12 years, while spot silver dropped as much as 8.7%. Shares of gold miners plummeted, too, with top producers Barrick Mining, Newmont and Agnico Eagle Mines all falling by more than 8% on Tuesday morning.

The plunge brought an abrupt halt to a surge that had seen both metals post record highs in the past week. Gold had soared both on bets the US Federal Reserve will make at least one outsized rate cut by year-end and on the so-called debasement trade, where investors have been pulling away from sovereign debt and currencies to protect from runaway budget deficits.

Bloated deficits, threats to central bank independence and unpredictable trade and economic policies have been of particular concern when it comes to the US dollar. More investors have been turning their back on America amid its increasing political instability under President Donald Trump, and after a Republican tax-and-spend bill put the country on track to top $40 trillion in debt.

But on Tuesday there was a bit of respite on that front. Among the factors that dragged gold down were the prospect of (on again, off again, grant you) trade talks between China and the US following weeks of threats and sniping, overstretched technicals and a stronger dollar. —Jordan Parker Erb and David E. Rovella

What You Need to Know Today

Amazon’s reputation as a reliable provider of cloud services took a hit on Monday when an outage lasting some 15 hours disrupted the operations of hundreds of companies from Apple to McDonald’s and maybe your office, too. The incident, which some analysts are calling Amazon’s worst outage since 2021, occurred at a challenging moment for the Amazon Web Services cloud unit, which has long touted reliability and accountability as a core piece of its pitch to customers. Sales growth has slowed, and AWS has struggled to keep up as its two biggest rivals, Microsoft and Google, grab new business selling artificial intelligence tools.

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Big Bitcoin holders are moving their wealth from the blockchain onto Wall Street’s balance sheet thanks to a new generation of exchange-traded funds that’s giving the crypto rich a novel way to fold digital fortunes into the regulated financial system—without selling, and through funds run by big asset managers like BlackRock.

A Trump administration regulatory change this summer opened the door for large investors to hand their Bitcoin to an ETF in exchange for shares of the fund. It’s called an in-kind transaction and is used across most ETFs, but was only approved for Bitcoin products this July. The process is generally tax-neutral, whereby no cash changes hands and no sale is recorded. The result is that a volatile digital asset becomes a line item on a brokerage statement—easier to borrow against, pledge as collateral or pass onto heirs.

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Fewer humans on Wall Street may be in the offing as OpenAI leverages more than 100 ex-investment bankers to train its AI on how to build financial models—ostensibly to replace only the grunt work that burdens junior bankers.

The group, which includes former employees of JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, is part of a secretive project inside the startup that’s code named Mercury, according to documents seen by Bloomberg. Participants are said to be paid $150 per hour to write prompts and build financial models for a range of transaction types, including restructurings and IPOs.

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**Walmart has paused offers to corporate candidates **requiring H-1B visas, the latest example of how the Trump administration’s $100,000 visa fees are disrupting workforces. Walmart is the largest user of H-1B visas when it comes to major retail chains, employing an estimated 2,390 H-1B visa holders, according to government data. Still, it’s dwarfed by Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and other tech giants that rely more heavily on the group.

European nations are working with Ukraine on a 12-point proposal to end Russia’s war along current battle lines, pushing back against Vladimir Putin’s renewed demands that Kyiv surrender territory to him in return for a peace deal.

The proposals envisage the return of all deported children (for which Putin is wanted in the Hague onwar crimes charges) to Ukraine and exchanges of prisoners, with Ukraine receiving security guarantees, funds to repair war damage and a pathway to rapidly join the European Union. Earlier today, Russia poured cold water on a second peace summit floated by the White House following a failed attempt in Alaska two months ago.

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Warner Bros. Discovery said it’s considering a possible sale after receiving unsolicited interest from multiple parties, including Netflix and Comcast. According to a Tuesday statement, Warner Bros.’ board will evaluate “a broad range” of options, including a planned split-up of the company by mid-2026, an outright sale or separate deals for its Warner Bros. and Discovery Global units.

Warner Bros. has already been sold twice in the last decade as legacy media companies have struggled to contend with the rise of online competition. Paramount, which includes CBS News and is now run by David Ellison, son of Trump ally and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, already made at least one offer for the whole of Warner Bros. Discovery, which includes CNN. It was rebuffed for being too low.

What You’ll Need to Know Tomorrow

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