1. Gold and silver prices are trading sharply up in early U.S. trading on Monday, with gold scoring a three-week high and silver a two-week high. Safe-haven demand is featured in the two metals as the new U.S. tariff regime has thrown new uncertainty into the marketplace—at a time when traders and investors are also uneasy about U.S.-Iran tensions. April gold was last up $89.30 at $5,170.00. March silver prices were up $4.037 at $86.345. April gold futures bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $5,400.00. Bears’ next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $4,854.20. March silver futures bulls’ next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $90.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the February low of $71.815. The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index slightly down, with crude oil prices near steady and trading around $66.50 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note is presently 4.07 percent.
2. Hedge funds that helped fuel a boom in exchange-traded funds holding Bitcoin are in rapid retreat. Aggregate Bitcoin ETF allocations among the largest hedge fund holders fell 28% from the third to the fourth quarter of 2025. Bitcoin is down almost 50% from its October peak. The token slid as much as 4.8% in early Asia trading on Monday to nearly its lowest level since Feb. 6, as fresh nervousness over U.S. tariffs rippled through global markets. The losses extend a prolonged selloff that began in October. Since then, with digital-asset prices sliding and yields on a once-lucrative trading strategy shrinking, fast-money investors have steadily cut exposure. Part of the retreat reflects a simple shift in price momentum. Bitcoin has fallen alongside, and at times faster than, the macro risks it was meant to hedge, undermining the institutional pitch that it could offset inflation, currency debasement, or equity stress.
3. Stocks fell on Monday as uncertainty about new proposed tariffs continued to swirl on Wall Street. The Dow was down 835 points, or 1.6%, in early afternoon trading. The broader S&P 500 fell 1.24%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ticked lower by 1.4%. Wall Street’s fear gauge, the VIX, jumped 14% on Monday and surpassed 20 points, a threshold that signals elevated volatility in markets. The U.S. dollar slightly weakened against other major currencies. Treasury yields fell as investors scooped up bonds.
4. The American consumer’s confidence in the U.S. economy improved slightly in February after cratering a month earlier. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 91.2 in February from an upwardly revised 89 last month. A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions, and the job market rose four points to 72, remaining well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. It’s the 13th consecutive month that reading has come in under 80.
5. The Labor Department reported Friday that its producer price index, which measures inflation before it hits consumers, rose 0.5% from December and 2.9% from January 2025. Economists had forecasted a 0.3% increase for the month and 1.6% year over year, according to a survey by the data firm FactSet. Driving the increase was an uptick in the wholesale price of services, led by higher profit margins for retailers and wholesalers. “Retailers’ tariff bill has come down marginally in the last few months, but they have continued to lift their selling prices,” Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a commentary.
6. The number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits increased marginally last week and the unemployment rate appeared to hold steady in February amid a stable labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 212,000 for the week ended February 21, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled had forecasted 215,000 claims for the latest week.
7. Oil inched higher on signs that talks between the U.S. and Iran remain tense, rekindling fears of a military conflict that could disrupt supplies from the OPEC member. West Texas Intermediate rose above $66 a barrel, erasing earlier losses of as much as 2.8%, after Iran’s state media reported that Tehran won’t allow enriched uranium to leave the country. On Thursday, signs of a softer market emerged, with a key gauge signaling oversupply in Brent crude for the first time since 2024. The spread between Brent and WTI, or the difference in price between two of the world’s key crude markers, widened to as much as $5.75 a barrel, the most since April 2024.
8. EUR/USD now picks up pace and advances to the area of daily peaks north of the 1.1800 barrier at the end of the week. The pair’s decent move higher comes against the backdrop of a generalized lack of direction in the FX galaxy and the mild offered stance in the U.S. Dollar.
9. The Japanese Yen surrenders half of its early gains against the U.S. Dollar during the European trading session on Friday. The USD/JPY pair rebounds to near 155.90 as the JPY falls back but is still 0.15% down.
U.S. stocks sank on Friday after a measure of wholesale inflation came in hotter than expected, and Block’s surprise shakeup turned the spotlight on AI disruption risks. Wall Street is on course for a downbeat end to a week dogged by worries that AI will wreak havoc on a swathe of service industries, fears that have already hit stocks in sectors like software, wealth management, and real estate. Those concerns were stoked on Thursday when Block said it would cut nearly half its workforce and overhaul operations, citing the promise of AI to reshape its business. On the macro front, January’s producer price index rose 0.5% month over month, showing that wholesale inflation grew at a faster pace than the 0.3% rise economists expected. Core PPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was up 0.8% for the month and also exceeded forecasts of 0.3%.
Mortgage rates dipped into the 5% range for the first time since 2022 as Treasury yields continued to fall. Three months of a slow interest rate decline have filtered through the mortgage industry, with increasing reports of home loan rates finally slipping below 6%. Freddie Mac is the latest rate aggregator to record a sub-6% result, with a 30-year fixed rate of 5.98%. The 15-year fixed rose nine basis points to 5.44%. “While buying power has already increased $30,000 from last year, mortgage rates below 6% could be an important psychological threshold,” Kara Ng, senior economist for Zillow, said in an analysis. “Round numbers matter, and that headline alone could prompt many sidelined buyers to take another peek at the housing market.”
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)
| Feb. 20, 2026 | Feb. 27, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $5,075.26 | $5,234.04 | 158.78 | 3.13% |
| Silver | $82.73 | $93.66 | 10.93 | 13.21% |
| Platinum | $2,168.87 | $2,367.78 | 198.91 | 9.17% |
| Palladium | $1,749.24 | $1,791.08 | 41.84 | 2.39% |
| Dow | 49625.97 | 48983.89 | -642.08 | -1.29% |
Month End to Month End Close
| Jan. 30, 2026 | Feb. 27, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $4,830.07 | $5,234.04 | 403.97 | 8.36% |
| Silver | $85.05 | $93.66 | 8.61 | 10.12% |
| Platinum | $2,115.73 | $2,367.78 | 252.05 | 11.91% |
| Palladium | $1,708.23 | $1,791.08 | 82.85 | 4.85% |
| Dow | 48902.13 | 48983.89 | 81.76 | 0.17% |
Previous Year Comparison
| Feb. 28, 2025 | Feb. 27, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $2,837.80 | $5,234.04 | 2396.24 | 84.44% |
| Silver | $30.95 | $93.66 | 62.71 | 202.62% |
| Platinum | $941.13 | $2,367.78 | 1426.65 | 151.59% |
| Palladium | $919.85 | $1,791.08 | 871.23 | 94.71% |
| Dow | 43840.72 | 48983.89 | 5143.17 | 11.73% |
Here are your Short-Term Support and Resistance Levels for the upcoming week.
| Gold | Silver | |
| Support | 5017/4929/4754 | 80.44/76.16/67.69 |
| Resistance | 5280/5455/5700 | 93.18/101.66/110.05 |
| Platinum | Palladiumn | |
| Support | 2107/2038/1916 | 1670/1583/1535 |
| Resistance | 2297/2419/2510 | 1806/1854/1941 |