1. Investors step into the week after a Friday that saw markets reprice toward an interest-rate hike this year, pushing all three major indexes deeply into the red. A SpaceX IPO, Oracle earnings, and more inflation readings will test traders’ resiliency. The S&P 500 closed Friday down 2.6% for an equal weekly loss. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.4% on Friday to finish the week down 0.6%. In the worst showing of the major indexes, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged by 4.2% on Friday to end the five-day stretch down 4.7%, or well past 1,000 points. Investors also face another stretch chock-full of key economic data after last week’s unexpectedly hot nonfarm payrolls report, with the second leg of the Fed’s dual mandate, inflation — in focus this week.
2. Rising debt and inflation levels are repricing markets while the constraints on available policy responses favor hard assets, and the recent price pullback and subsequent consolidation of gold and silver hasn’t violated this thesis, according to Paul Wong, managing partner and market strategist at Sprott Inc. Wong pointed out that while gold prices have been rangebound since the mid-March selloff, with futures anemic and ETFs seeing outflows, central banks, including China’s – appear to be treating dips as buying opportunities. “Despite persistent geopolitical and macroeconomic volatility, gold price action is consistent with a consolidation phase rather than a breakdown,” he wrote. Wong pointed out that annual PCE inflation has held consistently above the Fed’s 2% target over the past five years, and it’s now accelerating. Wong said that this repricing of sovereign debt “is the result of post-pandemic fiscal expansion, persistently high debt levels and a transition away from the low-inflation regime that defined the prior decade.”
3. Home sales ticked up in May, the latest sign that buyers and sellers are staying active in the market despite higher mortgage rates and glum economic sentiment. Existing home sales in May jumped 3.2% from a year ago to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.17 million. On a month-over-month basis, home sales were also up 3.2%. May’s figures are among the best showings for home sales in the past three years. During that time, the housing market has been in a deep freeze brought on by rising mortgage rates and high prices. “I cannot definitively say if home sales are truly coming out of a slump, because we know there’s still uncertainty” around oil prices and mortgage rates, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said. On an annual basis, sales rose in all parts of the country except the Northeast, where supply remains severely constrained.
4. A growing number of “bear market signposts” are signaling that the market could be approaching a top and that investors should take profits now before a pullback, according to Bank of America. Seven of the bank’s 10 bear market indicators have been triggered in recent months; strategists wrote in a recent client note. Five were triggered by April, and two more of those indicators flashed red in May. The bank’s “signposts” cover a wide range of market data, including consumer confidence, stock performance expectations, credit stress levels, and credit tightening conditions.
5. U.S. consumer sentiment slightly improved in early June after falling to a record low in May, as Americans saw some relief at the pump but remain worried that higher inflation could persist. The University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment showed a preliminary reading for June at 48.9, up from the lowest level on record, 44.8, in May. It’s still below April’s final reading of 49.8.
6. Mortgage rates rose this week after newly released economic data strengthened the case for Federal Reserve rate hikes this year. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.52% in the week through Wednesday, up from 6.48% a week earlier, according to Freddie Mac data. Mortgage rates have spent the last four weeks hovering around 6.5%, eroding affordability for buyers. Even so, buying and selling activity picked up in May, a sign that the market’s traditional busy season hasn’t been a complete bust.
7. In the week ending June 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 229,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 225,000. The 4-week moving average was 219,000, an increase of 4,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 214,750.
8. Oil and gas prices tumbled on hopes that the US and Iran are nearing a peace deal to end a war that has roiled energy markets, though sticking points remained. Brent futures fell as much as 5.1% to trade at the lowest level since the early days of the war in March, while European gas slumped as much as 8.4%, before paring gains. Oil prices are now down more than 30% since the peak of the conflict. In addition to hopes around peace, the decline has been accelerated by markets finding workarounds to the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy chokepoint. In recent weeks, a rising number of ships have been crossing the waterway with their satellite signals off, while a plunge in Chinese imports and a surge in American exports have also helped balance markets.
9. EUR/USD fluctuates between modest gains and losses heading into the weekend as traders await Tehran’s decision on a possible agreement with the United States to end the war in the Middle East. At the time of writing, the pair trades around 1.1573 and is on track to post modest weekly gains.
10. The Japanese Yen is giving away previous gains against the U.S. Dollar, with the USD/JPY pair returning to levels above 160.00, widely considered as the limit of tolerable yen weakness for Japanese authorities.
The gold market is approaching its earlier lows after the latest data shows U.S. producers saw mixed price pressures last month. The headline Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 1.1% in May, following April’s downwardly revised 1.1% rise, the Labor Department announced on Thursday. The latest inflation data was higher than expectations, as economists looked for a 0.7% increase. In the last 12 months, headline wholesale inflation increased 6.5%, the report said, above the consensus for 6.4% and April’s downwardly revised 5.7% reading. Core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.4% in May, below economists’ 0.5% consensus forecast and following April’s unrevised 0.7% reading. Annual core PPI rose 4.9%, against the consensus expectation for a 5.4% reading and April’s downwardly revised 4.9% print.
For decades, oil traders, executives, and analysts warned that closing the Strait of Hormuz would be a global economic catastrophe. It’s now been more than three months since the waterway was effectively blocked, creating the worst supply shock in modern history. But a slew of workarounds is keeping crude oil below $100 a barrel, defying many of the industry’s grimmest forecasts for prices as high as $200. A combination of record U.S. exports, a sharp and unexpected slowdown in Chinese demand, and a steady trickle of crude still finding its way through the strait has helped absorb much of the shock from the loss of more than 10 million barrels a day of Middle Eastern supply. A pre-war surplus has also eased the blow. Other emergency measures have also eased the strain. Governments around the globe coordinated a historic release of strategic reserves, while Gulf producers rerouted shipments through alternative export routes. Some tankers continued moving cargoes via the strait despite the risks, using increasingly opaque methods to avoid military threats.
The European Central Bank on Thursday became the first major central bank to raise interest rates in response to the Iran war. The ECB’s rate-setting council raised its benchmark rate to 2.25% from 2%, where it had been for a year. The move comes ahead of rate-setting meetings next week at the Fed, the Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England. But ECB policymakers must also consider the impact of higher borrowing costs on an economy, showing only mediocre growth. That has led analysts to think Thursday’s hike will be a one-and-done affair, aimed mainly at signaling to financial markets that the bank is determined not to get behind the curve if inflation spirals higher.
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)
| Jun. 5, 2026 | Jun. 12, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $4,342.12 | $4,221.47 | -120.65 | -2.78% |
| Silver | $68.92 | $68.04 | -0.88 | -1.28% |
| Platinum | $1,776.92 | $1,704.40 | -72.52 | -4.08% |
| Palladium | $1,251.96 | $1,278.44 | 26.48 | 2.12% |
| Dow | 50867.15 | 51202.17 | 335.02 | 0.66% |
Previous Year Comparison
| Jun. 13, 2025 | Jun. 12, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $3,430.53 | $4,221.47 | 790.94 | 23.06% |
| Silver | $36.31 | $68.04 | 31.73 | 87.39% |
| Platinum | $1,231.14 | $1,704.40 | 473.26 | 38.44% |
| Palladium | $1,040.54 | $1,278.44 | 237.90 | 22.86% |
| Dow | 42197.79 | 51202.17 | 9004.38 | 21.34% |
Here are your Short-Term Support and Resistance Levels for the upcoming week.
| Gold | Silver | |
| Support | 4245/4160/4009 | 64.43/61.03/54.74 |
| Resistance | 4480/4630/4715 | 74.12/80.41/83.81 |
| Platinum | Palladiumn | |
| Support | 1708/1636/1500 | 1170/1110/997 |
| Resistance | 1916/2052/2124 | 1343/1457/1516 |