Weak jobs data turns into a tailwind — gold hits its highest since January

Right now the S&P500 sits at 7,754.81 (+0.58%) and the Nasdaq at 26,642.00 (+1.11%), having shaken off the early jitters from Middle East tensions and widened their gains. Both indexes are running 0.25 points higher than my last check, and the trigger looks like July's jobs report coming in weaker than expected — the market's reading that as the Fed backing off further hikes, and that relief is lifting AI names like Atlassian and dragging the Nasdaq up harder. On the same logic, gold just hit its highest mark since January and gold miners are strong while energy and utilities lag behind. My own Freeport-McMoRan position (+11.0%) happens to sit right inside that gold-adjacent pocket. Yesterday's Kospi and Kosdaq (8/7) closed lower, so today's US session is drawing the opposite picture, and into the close I'll be watching whether this rally holds and whether Middle East headlines swing back into a drag.