1. The stock market goes into the last week of May from yet another position of power, with the S&P 500 surfing the 7,500 mark after a busy earnings season. While not a straight shot up and to the right, the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq rose yet again for the week, joined by the Dow, which set new records and has 51,000 in its sights for the first time. With earnings season done, the stock market moves into digestion and distraction territory as investors integrate the whole of corporate data. The economic calendar will be calm in the shortened week with the Conference Board’s consumer confidence reading on Tuesday, following the University of Michigan’s dismal sentiment release on Friday. The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, will come out on Thursday, capping the week’s top-tier economic data agenda.
2. Gold advanced as signs the U.S. and Iran are closing in on a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz tempered inflation concerns. Bullion rose as much as 1.6% to around $4,580 an ounce, erasing last week’s small decline. Gold’s reaction to the headlines was still “relatively muted,” said Justin Lin, an analyst at Global X ETFs. Bullion is still down about 13% since the conflict began in late February. Traders have ramped up rate-hike bets, as the Iran war sent energy prices soaring. The money market is pricing in that the Federal Reserve is virtually certain to start raising rates by December. Higher interest rates weigh on bullion, which doesn’t pay interest.
3. There are plenty of reasons to be worried about the housing market this spring: Mortgage rates are stubbornly high and rising. Prices are still out of reach for many aspiring buyers. But despite the gloomy signals, buying and selling activity looks surprisingly resilient. Contract signings have risen for three consecutive months and are outpacing last April’s levels by 3.2%. Completed home sales also eked out a small gain from a month earlier. One change that might explain the improvement: Homebuyers and sellers have their price expectations in sync. The share of sellers who cut prices in April dropped 1.3 percentage points from a year ago, even though median list prices per square foot also fell, according to data. Together, those statistics point to a market where buyers and sellers are making price compromises and getting more deals done. “It’s not just that more buyers are coming to market, but that sellers are pricing initially at a level that is basically meeting buyers where they are,” said Jake Krimmel, a senior economist at Realtor.com.
4. U.S. consumer confidence eased in May as worries about inflation linked to the war with Iran intensified, offsetting an improvement in households’ perceptions of the labor market, a survey showed on Tuesday. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index slipped 0.7 points to 93.1 this month. Data for April was revised higher to show the index at 93.8 instead of 92.8. Economists polled had forecasted the index would drop to 92.0.
5. Bitcoin has decoupled from the tech sector as a rally in semiconductors pushed the Nasdaq Composite to record highs. Instead, the token has fallen about 7% over the past two weeks after climbing above $81,000. Investors have been digesting the digital asset treasury Strategy’s pause on bitcoin purchases last week, signaling the company may be prioritizing debt reduction. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs continued to see investor outflows. Fundstrat head of digital assets Sean Farrell noted recent market signals suggest bitcoin could face more turbulence in the near term. “On net, this type of price action basically suggests a couple of choppy weeks ahead,” Farrell said on Tuesday night.
6. In the week ending May 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 215,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 209,000 to 210,000. The 4-week moving average was 209,000, an increase of 6,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from 202,500 to 202,750.
7. Oil prices fell about 1% or more on Friday morning as reports of a potential deal to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to energy shipping put crude futures on track to their sharpest weekly loss since early April. By 8:20 a.m. EDT, WTI crude for July delivery was down $1.17, or 1.3%, to $87.73 bbl. ICE Brent for July delivery fell $1.48, or 1.6%, to $92.23.
8. EUR/USD adds to Thursday’s advance and climbs to fresh two-week highs, approaching 1.1680 on the back of further selling pressure on the U.S. Dollar. The extra uptick in spot comes soon after President Trump said the U.S. will lift the naval blockade, at the time when a decision of the U.S.-Iran deal is expected anytime soon.
9. The USD/JPY pair trades in a muted fashion toward the 159.20 region on Friday as the United States Dollar finds support following the latest inflation data, while the Japanese Yen remains pressured amid uncertainty surrounding the Bank of Japan’s policy outlook.
If something is going to unsettle the great bull market of 2026 soon, Goldman Sachs strategists have found two possible triggers. Goldman Sachs strategist Ben Snider warned in a new note that “the conditions that have marked the ends of past bull markets remain mostly absent today, although some yellow flags have recently begun to appear.” Two recurring dynamics typically characterize the end of high-valuation, high-concentration bull markets, according to Snider’s work. The first is an excess of speculative risk-taking that shifts the distribution of market outcomes to the downside. The second is a deteriorating fundamental backdrop for companies that has historically included a rate-tightening Federal Reserve and a weakening outlook for earnings growth. “When you’re gambling and chasing the shiny objects, sooner or later the casino wins,” Great Hill Capital chair Thomas Hayes said. “I think we’re in for an exciting time in the next three months. If you don’t have anything outside the AI trade, maybe lighten up and get some exposure to the rest of the market. But I’m not calling for any type of bubble burst or anything like that, because underlying earnings and the underlying economy are still pretty strong.”
U.S. consumer spending crept up in April as war-driven inflation pressures sapped incomes and pushed the saving rate to an almost four-year low. Inflation-adjusted consumer spending increased just 0.1% last month, while the personal consumption expenditures price index rose 3.8% from a year earlier, the most since 2023, a report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed Thursday.
The core PCE index, which excludes food and energy items, was up 3.3% from a year earlier. The inflation figures, meanwhile, will likely reinforce warnings from some Federal Reserve officials that the U.S. central bank will need to consider raising interest rates if price pressures do not ebb.
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)
| May. 22, 2026 | May. 29, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $4,518.91 | $4,553.54 | 34.63 | 0.77% |
| Silver | $75.96 | $75.40 | -0.56 | -0.74% |
| Platinum | $1,932.97 | $1,920.50 | -12.47 | -0.65% |
| Palladium | $1,356.75 | $1,352.05 | -4.70 | -0.35% |
| Dow | 50579.70 | 51032.52 | 452.82 | 0.90% |
Month End to Month End Close
| Apr. 30, 2026 | May. 29, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $4,617.39 | $4,553.54 | -63.85 | -1.38% |
| Silver | $73.68 | $75.40 | 1.72 | 2.33% |
| Platinum | $1,954.87 | $1,920.50 | -34.37 | -1.76% |
| Palladium | $1,479.84 | $1,352.05 | -127.79 | -8.64% |
| Dow | 49759.41 | 51032.52 | 1273.11 | 2.56% |
Previous Year Comparison
| May. 30, 2025 | May. 29, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $3,291.26 | $4,553.54 | 1262.28 | 38.35% |
| Silver | $32.89 | $75.40 | 42.51 | 129.25% |
| Platinum | $1,056.57 | $1,920.50 | 863.93 | 81.77% |
| Palladium | $970.83 | $1,352.05 | 381.22 | 39.27% |
| Dow | 42264.72 | 51032.52 | 8767.80 | 20.74% |
Here are your Short-Term Support and Resistance Levels for the upcoming week.
| Gold | Silver | |
| Support | 4517/4445/4380 | 72.69/69.83/66.59 |
| Resistance | 4581/4654/4718 | 78.75/82.00/84.84 |
| Platinum | Palladiumn | |
| Support | 1890/1855/1800 | 1317/1282/1220 |
| Resistance | 1980/2034/2070 | 1413/1475/1510 |