GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks rise to record on earnings optimism, gold continues climb

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Global stocks rose for a fifth straight session to an intraday record on Tuesday, as the pace of U.S. earnings season picked up, while President Donald Trump's latest tariff threats helped support the recent rally in gold and silver.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were higher, with the S&P climbing to an intraday record, as investors gauged a flurry of major earnings releases, including results from airplane maker Boeing BA.N and shipping company United Parcel Service UPS.N, which also said it would cut up to 30,000 jobs in operational roles this year.

Along with a decline of about 2% in Boeing, the Dow Industrials were pulled lower by a drop of about 20% in UnitedHealth UNH.N, which said its 2026 revenue would shrink, while health insurers were lower overall in the wake of a lower-than-expected Medicare reimbursement proposal for 2027 from the government. The decline in UnitedHealth accounted for roughly 430 points of downside pressure to the Dow.

Markets were also awaiting earnings this week from heavyweight names that are part of the so-called Magnificent Seven, such as Microsoft MSFT.O, Apple AAPL.O, Tesla TSLA.O and Meta Platforms META.O, while the Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its policy statement on Wednesday.

"We have an opportunity to see if investors are OK with increasing spending CapEx to chase the AI dream. Meta, of late, has not been rewarded for increasing its CapEx," said Art Hogan, market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 481.93 points, or 0.98%, to 48,930.47, the S&P 500 .SPX rose 30.56 points, or 0.44%, to 6,980.77 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC rose 230.37 points, or 0.98%, to 23,831.86.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS rose 7.73 points, or 0.74%, to 1,051.90 and was on track for a fifth straight daily gain, its longest run of gains this year. The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX index closed up 0.58%, boosted in part by a 1.8% jump in bank .SX7P shares.

South Korea scrambled to assure the U.S. it remained committed to implementing a trade deal after Trump said he would hike tariffs on autos and other imports from its ally, blaming a delay in enacting the pact reached last year. It was the latest tariff threat from Trump after he announced plans to issue levies on several European countries over Greenland last week.

The dollar index =USD, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.9% to 96.23 and was on track for its biggest daily percentage drop since August, with the euro EUR= up 0.81% at $1.1975. The Korean won KRW= strengthened 0.51% against the greenback to 1,438.18 per dollar after falling as much as 0.63%.

Against the Japanese yen JPY=, the dollar weakened 0.93% to 152.71 after hitting 152.57, its lowest level since October 30, while Sterling GBP= strengthened 0.75% to $1.378.

The yen had come under pressure since new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ascended to her position in October, in part due to worries over Japan's government debt as Takaichi based her campaign for next month's elections on expanded stimulus measures.

But the Japanese currency strengthened sharply on Friday as chatter about rate checks by the New York Fed as well as the Bank of Japan fueled the risk of a joint U.S.-Japan intervention to halt the yen's slide.

Markets are also awaiting the latest policy statement from the Fed, although the central bank is widely expected to keep rates unchanged, according to CME's FedWatch Tool. However, the nomination of a potential replacement for Fed Chair Jerome Powell in May, the effort to fire Governor Lisa Cook, and a criminal investigation by the Trump administration into the central bank chief all loom over the meeting.

As geopolitical tensions continue to impact markets, they have buttressed precious metals such as gold. Spot gold XAU= was up 1.43% at $5,085.91 an ounce, just off the record $5,110.50 hit on Monday. Spot silver XAG= climbed 3.83% to $107.87 an ounce, after a record $117.69 on Monday.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs said on Tuesday they see "meaningful upside risk" to their forecast of gold to hit $5,400 by December while Deutsche Bank said it thinks $6,000 "is achievable with a weaker dollar this year."

U.S. crude CLc1 rose 2.21% to $61.97 a barrel and Brent LCOc1 rose to $67.09 per barrel, up 2.29% on the day as producers reeled from a winter storm that stunted crude production and drove U.S. Gulf Coast crude exports to zero over the weekend.