1. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates steady at its policy meeting this week, following three successive cuts at the end of 2025. “My expectation is they’re signaling a pause,” Esther George, former president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve, said in an interview. “I have a feeling they’re going to hold for a while.” Wilmer Stith, senior bond portfolio manager for Wilmington Trust, said he doesn’t think the Fed will box itself in to taking a pause on lowering rates, anticipating that Fed Chair Jerome Powell will show flexibility. “I don’t think there will be a whole lot of activity other than holding rates. The Fed is at a point where they can be patient, and we don’t need to do anything,” Stith said. “I think it’ll be seeing what data says, decide, and wait for more data and decide, gently gliding down their landing.” UPDATE: The central bank voted in a split decision on Wednesday to hold its benchmark interest rate in the range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Fed Governors Chris Waller and Stephen Miran disagreed with the decision, preferring to cut rates by a quarter percentage point.
2. The gold market has soared through its latest milestone at $5,000 an ounce, but could face renewed headwinds as the U.S. manufacturing sector shows robust activity. The Commerce Department announced Monday that U.S. durable goods orders rose 5.3% in November, following October’s 2.1% drop. The data was better than expected, as the consensus view among economists called for an increase of 3.1%. Core durable goods, which strip out the volatile transportation sector, rose 0.5% in November, above the consensus forecast of 0.3% and higher than October’s 0.1% increase. The gold market has seen some slight selling pressure in its initial reaction to the better-than-expected manufacturing data; however, prices continue to hold solid gains above $5,000 an ounce. Spot gold last traded at $5,062.30 an ounce, up 1.6% on the day.
3. U.S. consumer confidence declined sharply in January, hitting the lowest level since 2014. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index cratered 9.7 points to 84.5 in January. A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions, and the job market tumbled 9.5 points to 65.1, well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. It’s the 12th consecutive month that reading has come in under 80.
4. A gauge of the dollar slid to its weakest level in nearly four years as a resurgent yen adds to headwinds for the U.S. currency. The Dollar Spot Index fell as much as 0.4% to its lowest since March 2022. The world’s primary reserve currency fell for a fourth straight day and is coming off its worst week since May. The latest decline also follows signs of U.S. support for the beleaguered yen, reigniting speculation about the potential for coordinated currency intervention to push the greenback lower against key trading partners. The drop in the dollar also buoyed the euro, which earlier hit $1.1939, its strongest level since 2021. The pound rose 0.5% to $1.3748, its highest since July.
5. Kevin Warsh was selected to succeed Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chairman, ending a prolonged odyssey that has seen unprecedented turmoil around the central bank. The decision culminates a process that officially began last summer but started much earlier than that. The pick of Warsh, 55, likely won’t ripple markets because of his past Fed experience. “He has the respect and credibility of the financial markets,” said David Bahnsen, chief investment officer of The Bahnsen Group. Warsh now faces Senate confirmation. If approved, he will take over the position in May, when Powell’s term expires. Warsh will fill the Board of Governors position currently held by Governor Stephen Miran, whose term expires Saturday. Miran can continue to serve until a replacement is named.
6. U.S. applications for unemployment benefits inched down modestly last week, remaining at historically healthy levels despite recent high-profile layoff announcements. Applications for jobless aid for the week ending Jan. 24 fell by 1,000 to 209,000 from the previous week’s number, which was revised upward by 10,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Analysts surveyed were expecting 205,000 new applications.
7. West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the U.S. crude oil benchmark, is trading around $64.00 during the early European trading hours on Friday. The WTI price falls after hitting its highest since late September as oversupply concerns weigh on the price. Crude oil global production exceeded consumption throughout 2025, leading to significant stockpile builds. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated a substantial surplus will continue through 2026, with an average oversupply of more than 3.7 million barrels per day for the year.
8. EUR/USD has slipped back into its downtrend, drifting below the 1.1900 support as the U.S. Dollar’s recovery keeps gathering traction. Indeed, the Greenback’s push higher gathered pace after President Trump named Kevin Warsh as Jerome Powell’s successor and Producer Prices rose more than expected in December.
9. USD/JPY rebounds around 154.50 on Friday at the time of writing, up 0.90% on the day, supported by a renewed recovery in the U.S. Dollar after several weeks of weakness. The move comes as markets reassess the monetary policy outlook in the United States and Japan.
Gold and silver prices are strongly higher, with gold leading the way this time, powering to an all-time high of $5,345.00, basis April Comex futures. The precious metals are supported by safe-haven demand as the U.S. dollar wobbles on the foreign exchange market ahead of the conclusion of the Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting this afternoon. April gold was last up $181.60 at $5,303.00. March silver prices were up $6.668 at $112.60. CME Group is raising margins on Comex silver futures after prices surged to a record high this week. Margins will rise to 11% of so-called notional from the current 9% for a non-heightened risk profile, the exchange said in a statement on Tuesday. The heightened risk profile margins will be raised to 12.1% from the current 9.9%, it said. Platinum and palladium futures’ margin will be hiked. The change takes effect from Wednesday’s close and follows a “normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage,” the CME said.
Oracle Corp.’s shares have fallen more than 50% from last year’s all-time high as investors are concerned about the artificial intelligence trade and the company’s links to OpenAI flee the stock. The stock decline has erased about $463 billion in market value from a record high on Sept. 10 after the company reported an impressive outlook for its cloud business. The rally brought Oracle’s valuation to more than $933 billion, making it the 10th most valuable publicly listed U.S. company at the time. The swift decline in Oracle shares has been amplified by growing investor concern over AI as the biggest technology companies continue to pledge billions of dollars in capital expenditures to build out data centers, in some cases without a clear return on investment. “There’s some assumptions built in here about what OpenAI is going to spend and where are they getting that money and, you know, is this really going to happen,” said Eric Diton, president of Wealth Alliance, an investment advisory firm. “Maybe Oracle stock got way ahead of fundamentals and now the market’s saying, alright, show me, I wanna see it.”
The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees commodities trading, advanced a bill on Thursday that would establish a federal regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies on a party-line vote, an indication that the legislation likely lacks enough support to be passed by the full Senate. If passed, the bill would give the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission the authority to oversee spot crypto markets and create rules for digital commodity exchanges, brokers, and dealers. The crypto industry has said that a crypto market structure bill is crucial to the future of the industry in the U.S. and provides legal certainty for companies to operate.
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.
Trading Department – Precious Metals International Ltd.
Friday to Friday Close (New York Closing Prices)
| Jan. 23, 2026 | Jan. 30, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $4,964.64 | $4,830.07 | -134.57 | -2.71% |
| Silver | $100.72 | $85.05 | -15.67 | -15.56% |
| Platinum | $2,748.91 | $2,115.73 | -633.18 | -23.03% |
| Palladium | $2,001.41 | $1,708.23 | -293.18 | -14.65% |
| Dow | 49100.59 | 48902.13 | -198.46 | -0.40% |
Month End to Month End Close
| Dec. 31, 2025 | Jan. 30, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $4,321.97 | $4,830.07 | 508.10 | 11.76% |
| Silver | $71.26 | $85.05 | 13.79 | 19.35% |
| Platinum | $2,042.26 | $2,115.73 | 73.47 | 3.60% |
| Palladium | $1,614.12 | $1,708.23 | 94.11 | 5.83% |
| Dow | 48063.29 | 48902.13 | 838.84 | 1.75% |
Previous Year Comparison
| Jan. 31, 2025 | Jan. 30, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $2,808.44 | $4,830.07 | 2021.63 | 71.98% |
| Silver | $31.49 | $85.05 | 53.56 | 170.09% |
| Platinum | $984.95 | $2,115.73 | 1130.78 | 114.81% |
| Palladium | $1,025.76 | $1,708.23 | 682.47 | 66.53% |
| Dow | 44544.19 | 48902.13 | 4357.94 | 9.78% |
Here are your Short-Term Support and Resistance Levels for the upcoming week.
| Gold | Silver | |
| Support | 4867/4745/4507 | 107.00/98.00/91.24 |
| Resistance | 5105/5227/5465 | 123.00/130.00/139.00 |
| Platinum | Palladiumn | |
| Support | 2462/2153/1994 | 1856/1698/1607 |
| Resistance | 2931/3090/3400 | 2104/2195/2353 |