1. Gold prices are modestly up and silver prices are near steady in early U.S. trading on Wednesday. Some safe-haven demand has surfaced at mid-week as the global stock markets are still a bit shaky amid ideas U.S. stocks are overvalued and that there is an AI stock bubble. December gold was last up $12.70 at $3,972.90. December silver prices were down $0.011 at $47.285. Global stock markets were mixed to weaker overnight. U.S. stock indexes are set to open slightly lower in New York trading.
2. Investors’ seemingly unshakeable faith that stocks can only go higher has one of Wall Street’s biggest optimists growing concerned that all the good vibes are waving a contrarian red flag. “There are too many bulls,” says perma-bull Ed Yardeni, after a torrid six-month advance that defied virtually every warning. With investors largely shrugging off Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s cautious stance on the odds of another rate cut in December, Yardeni is now questioning his call for a year-end rally. The S&P 500 Index has soared 37% since early April, a feat topped in just five other instances since 1950. It’s now November, historically the best month for returns over the past three decades. Yardeni predicts that the S&P 500 could fall as much as 5% from its peak by late December, as sentiment and technical indicators appear stretched. “The crucial question is whether this rally has already gotten ahead of itself, and if it can continue in the final months of the year,” Yardeni said by phone. “Just one unexpected event could knock stocks down from their highs amid poor market breadth, but that may be tough to do, given that traders are usually optimistic around the holidays.” By one measure, investors are the most bullish they have been in a year. The ratio of bulls to bears identified in an Investors’ Intelligence survey for the week through Oct. 29, jumped to 4.27 — topping the 4.00 threshold that historically signals sentiment is getting too enthusiastic. Another signal of elevated optimism was evident in a weekly survey of retail investors by the American Association of Individual Investors, where bullish sentiment topped its historical average of 37.5% for the fifth time in seven weeks.
3. Oil fluctuated between small gains and losses as traders weighed the OPEC+ alliance’s plan to pause its output revival next quarter on the anticipation that demand will slow, while the market is seen headed for oversupply. West Texas Intermediate traded below $61 a barrel, pressured by a stronger dollar. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided on Sunday to halt production hikes from January, reflecting an expectation for a seasonal slowdown. The move comes against a backdrop of widespread forecasts for excess supplies next year. The U.S. benchmark has slumped about 12% over the past three months as OPEC+ ramped up output in an apparent effort to regain market share, while producers outside the group also increased production. Prices recently bounced from a five-month low after tighter sanctions on two major Russian oil producers over the war in Ukraine raised some questions about supply from Moscow.
4. Bitcoin has fallen below a key support level that had been holding amid weakening momentum in tech stocks. The leading cryptocurrency fell during Asian trading hours, penetrating the level that had offered support multiple times in recent weeks, according to CoinDesk data. Ether also fell to its lowest since August, with a bear cross of key moving averages pointing to strengthening downside momentum, and XRP hit a three-week low. BTC’s dour price action follows dwindling odds of rapid Fed rate cuts and signs of bullish turnaround in the dollar index, which tracks the greenback’s value against major currencies.
5. How was the job market in October? The shutdown of the federal government, now the longest running in U.S. history, has delayed two consecutive job reports from the Labor Department. That means the most recent comprehensive picture of the state of the labor market is from August, when data showed a 4.3% unemployment rate, a modest gain of 22,000 jobs. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has called government labor data the “gold standard,” referenced the information drought in remarks last week, noting that available private data suggested not all that much has changed since the shutdown began. “There’s just no story over the last four weeks,” Powell said in the Oct. 29 remarks. “It’s kind of stable. So, you don’t see anything that says that the job market is, or really any part of the economy, is making a significant deterioration.”
6. There was no unemployment report for this week.
7. Oil prices fell more than 1% on Wednesday, settling at two-week lows on pressure from concerns of a possible global oil glut, but data showing signs of strong U.S. demand for fuel limited losses. Brent crude futures closed 92 cents, or 1.43%, lower at $63.52 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled 96 cents, or 1.59%, low at $59.60.
8. The EUR/USD is holding its ground and edging closer to the key 1.1600 level as the week wraps up. The pair’s rebound has gathered momentum thanks to the continued weakness in the US Dollar, which came under extra pressure after the preliminary U-Mich Consumer Sentiment reading fell short of expectations for November.
9. The Japanese Yen retreats further from an over one-week high touched against a rebounding dollar earlier this Friday amid the uncertainty over the timing of the next interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan. Investors now seem convinced that the BoJ could resist policy tightening amid Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s pro-stimulus stance and signs of cooling private consumption in Japan.
The gold market is holding its own even as the labor market appears to remain fairly resilient, with the private sector creating more jobs than expected in October. On Wednesday, ADP reported that 42,000 jobs were created last month. The data was better than expected, as consensus forecasts had called for job gains of 32,000. “Private employers added jobs in October for the first time since July, but hiring was modest relative to what we reported earlier this year. Meanwhile, pay growth has been largely flat for more than a year, indicating that shifts in supply and demand are balanced,” said Dr. Nela Richardson, Chief Economist at ADP. The gold market is holding on to healthy gains following the stronger-than-expected employment data.
For the first time since midsummer, the country’s private employers added jobs. A positive reading ending a streak of red helps ease concerns about a crumbling labor market. Still, the reading continues to mark a slowdown; even “good” news can confirm weakness. Data released Wednesday showed an increase in the private sector payrolls of 42,000, reflecting a halt to the job shedding found in August and again in September. The modest growth, however, isn’t enough to change the widely held perception that the job market is softening and may be in trouble. Other indicators released this week added to the uncertainty and the sense that the U.S. economy, at the moment, defies neat labels. Big changes in the labor market, even without the most important readings, can still be felt.
U.S. consumer sentiment plunged in November as Americans feared the government shutdown’s effects on the economy and their personal finances. Overall sentiment dropped to 50.3, about a 6% decline from October. The pullback was led by respondents’ worsening outlook for their own current personal finances and expectations for year-ahead business conditions, leaving the index of consumer sentiment down nearly 30% from a year ago and the lowest since 2022.
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. 31, 2025 | Nov. 7, 2025 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $3,997.35 | $4,005.38 | 8.03 | 0.20% |
| Silver | $48.66 | $48.29 | -0.37 | -0.76% |
| Platinum | $1,576.19 | $1,543.86 | -32.33 | -2.05% |
| Palladium | $1,445.44 | $1,389.02 | -56.42 | -3.90% |
| Dow | 47562.87 | 46985.04 | -577.83 | -1.21% |
Previous Year Comparison
| Nov. 8, 2024 | Nov. 7, 2025 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $2,688.14 | $4,005.38 | 1317.24 | 49.00% |
| Silver | $31.35 | $48.29 | 16.94 | 54.04% |
| Platinum | $971.24 | $1,543.86 | 572.62 | 58.96% |
| Palladium | $993.35 | $1,389.02 | 395.67 | 39.83% |
| Dow | 44002.48 | 46985.04 | 2982.56 | 6.78% |
Here are your Short-Term Support and Resistance Levels for the upcoming week.
| Gold | Silver | |
| Support | 3889/3776/3666 | 47.87/46.34/44.00 |
| Resistance | 4112/4222/4335 | 50.20/51.72/54.07 |
| Platinum | Palladium | |
| Support | 1522/1472/1417 | 1361/1282/1220 |
| Resistance | 1627/1681/1731 | 1502/1565/1644 |