1. Silver hit the highest price ever as a historic short squeeze in London intensified. This, with a fresh surge in prices, adding urgency to a worldwide hunt for bullion that could alleviate the mismatch between demand and supply. Spot silver climbed as much as 3.1% to near $52 an ounce, exceeding last week’s peak, while gold surpassed $4,080 an ounce, building on a record-breaking run of eight weekly gains. Platinum and palladium also jumped, amid signs that market stresses caused by surging investor demand are starting to spread to other precious metals. Concerns about a lack of liquidity in London drove silver to a record high price of $52.50 an-ounce. The silver market “is less liquid and roughly nine times smaller than gold’s, amplifying price moves,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc analysts wrote in a note. The four main precious metals have surged between 55% and 80% this year, in a rally that’s dominated commodity markets.
2. U.S. stocks surged on Monday, bouncing back from Friday’s rout after President Trump played down the escalating trade standoff with China, saying it “will all be fine!” The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1%, or over 400 points. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite gained nearly 1.1% and 1.5%, respectively, coming off their worst day since April. Stocks are set to recoup some of Friday’s hefty losses after President Trump dialed back his threat from Friday to impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods starting Nov. 1. That move reignited fears of a full-on U.S.-China trade war and triggered a Wall Street selloff that erased roughly $2 trillion in stocks’ value.
3. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the outlook for employment and inflation has not changed much since the central bank’s policy meeting in September. He emphasized, however, that “the downside risks to employment appear to have risen.” That appears to imply that another rate cut is possible at the Fed’s next meeting on Oct. 28-29. While policymakers on the Fed’s 19-member Federal Open Market Committee have penciled in a median estimate of two more rate cuts for this year, Powell reiterated there is “no risk-free path” as the Fed tries to navigate balancing bringing inflation down with keeping a healthy job market. Despite a government shutdown, which has delayed the release of important data such as the jobs report, Powell said that based on the data the Fed does have, “the downside risks to employment appear to have risen” and shifted policymakers’ assessment of the balance of risks.
4. Investor fears of worsening credit conditions eased Friday as a new round of regional bank earnings provided some relief following a Thursday rout that spooked Wall Street. A key index tracking U.S. regional bank stocks, the KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking, rose at Friday’s market open after falling sharply on Thursday by 6% — its worst single-day pullback since the height of the tariff turmoil last April. “Overall credit quality is strong,” Truist CEO Bill Rogers said on a conference call. “We have seen in the market some, I would say, today sort of idiosyncratic and uncorrelated events,” he noted, adding that his bank is being “hypervigilant.” Not all regional bank stocks rose immediately, however. Webster Financial and Sand Regions Financial both fell following the release of their own third quarter earnings.
5. There was no unemployment report for this week.
6. Oil fell to a fresh five-month low after U.S. President Donald Trump said he’ll meet with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate fell as much as 1.6% Thursday to $57.34 a barrel, the lowest intraday price since May. The prospect of a Russia-Ukraine truce comes amid mounting pressure on Moscow’s oil infrastructure. Russian exports of refined fuels have slumped to the lowest since the onset of the war, underscoring continued strain on the country’s refineries targeted by drone attacks.
7. EUR/USD’s correction is now picking up pace, sending spot back to the 1.1650 region amid a decent recovery in the U.S. Dollar. Meanwhile, investors remain watchful of events on the U.S.-China trade front as well as the generalized risk-off environment.
8. The USD/JPY pair recovers its early losses and rebounds to near 150.20 during the late European trading session on Friday. The pair bounces back as the U.S. Dollar licks its wounds despite uncertainty over trade relations between the United States and China remaining intact. During the press time, the Dollar Index, which tracks the Greenback’s value against six major currencies, turns flat around 98.35 after recovering from the 10-day low of 98.00 posted earlier in the day. Meanwhile, the Japanese Yen trades higher against its peers as U.S.-China trade tensions have increased its safe-haven demand.
As equity and bond markets looked increasingly skittish in the face of domestic and geopolitical economic tensions this year, precious metals revived their status as a flight-to-safety trade. The spot price of gold bullion crossed $4,000 per troy ounce for the first time in early October. Spot silver crossed the $52 per troy ounce mark for the first time in history. Early Wednesday, gold was trading north of $4,200 an ounce. Silver traded around $51.20 per ounce. And Wall Street sees more room for growth. If just half a percent of U.S. assets held by foreign investors were to be moved into gold, for instance, the yellow metal could hit $6,000 per ounce, JPMorgan analysts said. “Who sells gold?” Commodity index head Jigna Gibb said. “If you hold gold in your portfolio, it acts like a teddy bear in some way — it’s a point of comfort.” While gold bullion is often the most visible metal for flight-to-safety trades, rising tides have lifted all precious metals. Silver and platinum futures have risen by more than 70% and more than 85%, respectively, on the year. Futures on palladium, another popular “platinum group metal,” is up more than 70%, compared to gold’s more than 55% increase.
Bitcoin has had a rocky first half of October so far. Bitcoin’s descent was particularly notable against the backdrop of gold, which has climbed to new all-time highs past $4,300 and is up 17% in the past month. Bitcoin, by comparison, has yet to recover from Friday’s losses and is down 8% in that period. “Right now, capital is clearly favoring gold due to its momentum and reduced volatility profile,” Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat, said this week. “There are also structural buyers in central banks, which provides a quasi-backstop to the trade.”
Confidence among U.S. homebuilders rose this month by the most since early 2024, boosted by lower mortgage rates that are chipping away at the nation’s affordability problem. The index of market conditions from the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo increased 5 points in October to 37, the highest since April. A value below 50 means more builders see conditions as poor than good. Economists surveyed estimated sentiment would tick up slightly to 33. Components of the index all rose, including the highest reading for sales expectations in the next six months since the start of the year. Gauges of present sales and prospective buyer traffic climbed to the highest levels since April, when mortgage rates had also been declining.
Volatility should be expected to remain high as investors will be closely watching for hints on the upcoming monetary policy direction. Many investors have redoubled their efforts to ensure that their portfolios are sufficiently diversified in the hope that they will be able to withstand corrections in multiple market sectors. Many of these investors have included physical precious metals as part of their diversification plans, given their long history as a hedge against both inflation and during times of economic turmoil. Remember, the key to profitability through the ownership of physical precious metals is to own the physical product and hold it for the long term. Always remember that you should never overextend your ability to maintain ownership of your precious metals over the long run.
Friday to Friday Close (New York Closing Prices)
| Oct. 10, 2025 | Oct. 17, 2025 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $3,990.09 | $4,219.97 | 229.88 | 5.76% |
| Silver | $50.20 | $51.57 | 1.37 | 2.73% |
| Platinum | $1,607.41 | $1,618.79 | 11.38 | 0.71% |
| Palladium | $1,430.68 | $1,485.25 | 54.57 | 3.81% |
| Dow | 45479.60 | 46190.49 | 710.89 | 1.56% |
Previous Year Comparison
| Oct. 18, 2024 | Oct. 17, 2025 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $2,716.06 | $4,219.97 | 1503.91 | 55.37% |
| Silver | $33.10 | $51.57 | 18.47 | 55.80% |
| Platinum | $1,014.78 | $1,618.79 | 604.01 | 59.52% |
| Palladium | $1,085.42 | $1,485.25 | 399.83 | 36.84% |
| Dow | 43275.78 | 46190.49 | 2914.71 | 6.74% |
Here are your Short-Term Support and Resistance Levels for the upcoming week.
| Gold | Silver | |
| Support | 3987/3915/3811 | 49.61/47.99/46.69 |
| Resistance | 4162/4265/4331 | 51.91/53.54/55.84 |
| Platinum | Palladiumn | |
| Support | 1553/1516/1446 | 1389/1274/1140 |
| Resistance | 1661/1731/1768 | 1523/1638/1772 |