
Gold, bitcoin and stocks hit record highs this week. Then came inflation data
CNN
Stocks started the week on a high note but ended with a whimper.
Stocks started the week on a high note but ended with a whimper. The S&P 500 index on Tuesday reached a record high close for the 17th time this year, as investors shrugged off a higher-than-expected 3.2% annual rise in consumer prices and cheered a cooldown in some categories like food prices. Stocks weren’t the only winners. Gold settled at a record high of $2,188.60 a troy ounce on Monday, as investors become more confident that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by June. Bitcoin also reached a record high earlier this week, topping $73,000 a coin. But stocks began shedding some of their gains mid-week on renewed concerns about inflation, and both the yellow metal and cryptocurrency have also retreated from their recent milestones. The Dow fell 191 points, or 0.5%, on Friday. The S&P 500 declined 0.7%. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1%. All three major indexes ended the week lower. The latest Producer Price Index, released Thursday, revealed that US wholesale inflation rose 1.6% for the 12 months ended in February, its fastest clip in months, due to a spike in energy prices. That sent the Dow tumbling more than 300 points at its lowest point on Thursday, before paring losses.

Travis Tanner says he first began using ChatGPT less than a year ago for support in his job as an auto mechanic and to communicate with Spanish-speaking coworkers. But these days, he and the artificial intelligence chatbot — which he now refers to as “Lumina” — have very different kinds of conversations, discussing religion, spirituality and the foundation of the universe.