Stock Rally Stalls as S&P 500 Ends Winning Streak While Bitcoin and Gold Shine

Global equities lost some momentum in the third week of August as a powerful summer rally finally took a breather. The S&P 500 slipped about 1.4% for the week, snapping a three‑week winning streak, with profit‑taking concentrated in richly valued AI‑linked names that had led markets higher. At the same time, a renewed rise in long‑term government bond yields weighed on fixed income, reflecting investor worries about sticky inflation, swelling public debt and the cost of funding massive AI‑related capital spending.

With both stocks and bonds under pressure, attention shifted toward so‑called alternative assets such as gold and bitcoin, which held up or advanced as risk markets wobbled. Into the weekend, traders turned more cautious ahead of two key events: Nvidia’s earnings report and the annual Jackson Hole symposium, where Federal Reserve officials often signal policy shifts. The big questions now are whether the AI investment boom can continue to justify elevated equity valuations and how long central banks can keep rates high without triggering a sharper downturn. For long‑term investors, the pause in the rally is reinforcing the case for more selective stock picking and broader diversification across bonds and alternative assets, rather than relying on a narrow group of mega‑cap growth stocks.