A day rate jitters pressed down and gold miners held the line

US markets mostly caught their breath today with no real direction — the S&P500 slipped -0.08% and the Nasdaq edged up +0.04%, basically a standstill, but underneath that flatness two forces were pulling against each other. Word that mortgage rates climbed for a fifth straight week, back to levels not seen since 2025, sent rate-sensitive sectors like utilities and energy noticeably lower, and that dragged the broader tape down. On the other side, gold miners and AI names kept pushing higher, just barely holding the Nasdaq in the green — though news that Meta's AI got hit by an outside hack, the industry's third 'rogue agent' security scare already, threw a little cold water on that AI rally. Still, with exports and employment holding up the real economy and currency/commodity conditions staying friendly, I'd read today's wobble as noise from the rate headline rather than any real trend break. Felt like a day to keep a foothold in gold, so I added Newmont (NEM) to the book today.