1. U.S. stocks rose on Monday morning, with chip stocks advancing ahead of Big Tech earnings this week, while oil prices eased after touching $90 a barrel amid tit-for-tat attacks between the U.S. and Iran over the weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.3%, while the S&P 500 added 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite popped almost 0.8% to follow a volatile week that saw semiconductor stocks post losses. Oil prices reversed gains on Monday after rising on the renewed tensions, as Iran said diplomatic exchanges with the U.S. would continue via mediators. Meanwhile, Brent crude futures remain well below their April and May peaks, suggesting energy markets may be starting to look beyond the Strait of Hormuz for alternative shipping routes for oil exports.
2. Spot gold prices are slightly lower, and spot silver prices are higher ahead of the North American market open Monday, as renewed U.S.-Iran escalation kept Treasury yields firm, limiting gold’s safe-haven response. At the time of writing, spot gold was trading near $4,012.00 an ounce, down 0.13%, while spot silver was trading near $56.73, up 1.62% on the session. Technically, spot gold bears have the overall near-term technical advantage as prices remain below the $4,023.35 pivot area and continue to trade under the $4,065.83 upper boundary of the latest retracement zone. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to push prices back above $4,023.35, with a sustained move targeting $4,065.83 and then the secondary lower top at $4,245.20. Spot silver bears have the overall near-term technical advantage despite Monday’s rebound, as prices remain below the $58.53 to $59.44 retracement zone that has defined the latest short-term breakdown. Silver bulls’ next upside price objective is to drive prices back above $58.53, with a move above that level targeting $59.44 and then the all-time 50% level at $60.83.
3. A nationwide shortage in entry-level homes is starting to ease, but high mortgage rates and prices are still pricing out many first-time homebuyers. The rapid rise in home prices since the pandemic means that the average starter home, defined as homes under $350,000 or 80% of a metro area’s median price now costs $344,000. That is up from $256,000 in 2019. As with all parts of the housing market, starter home affordability varies widely geographically. In parts of the country like the South and the West, where homebuilders have been most active, starter home prices have fallen slightly from 2022 peaks as inventory levels have improved. But in the Midwest and the Northeast, where construction has been more limited, prices have risen by double-digit percentages in the last four years alone. In the Northeast, the nation’s priciest region, a typical starter home now fetches $444,000, an out-of-reach price point for many middle-income buyers.
4. Bond yields continued to climb on Thursday. The 10-year yield used as a benchmark for mortgage and loan rates rose to 4.7% on Thursday, the highest level since January 2025. The 30-year yield climbed to 5.19%, its highest level since May. The long-dated bond has notched its longest stretch above 5% since 2007, the year prior to the financial crisis. The rise in bond yields comes as worries over a Federal Reserve rate hike this year eased in recent weeks, given recent softer than expected inflation prints. Firms like Goldman Sachs and UBS expect the Fed to hold rates steady this year. Investors are closely watching incoming economic data for clues about the outlook for inflation and monetary policy. Higher energy costs can feed through to consumer prices, potentially slowing progress toward the Fed’s 2% inflation target.
5. U.S. applications for jobless benefits tumbled to the lowest level in more than five decades last week as layoffs remain historically low despite global economic uncertainty. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the week ending July 18 declined by 22,000 to 187,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s the fewest number of weekly applications since the week ending Sept. 6, 1969, according to Labor Department data.
6. Oil futures prices fell over 3% on Friday but are still set for hefty weekly gains because of worsening disruption to energy flows in the Red Sea and fears of further escalation in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Brent futures fell $3.59, or 3.57%, to $97.10 a barrel having settled above $100 in the previous session for the first time since May. The contract remained on course for more than a 10% advance this week. West Texas Intermediate futures were down $3.14, or 3.41%, at $89.05 a barrel, on track for a nearly 8% weekly rise.
7. EUR/USD pressures daily lows below the 1.1400 mark in the American session on Friday. Mixed S&P Global PMIs, as manufacturing output contracted while services activity expanded in July, triggered no relevant market reaction. The focus remains in Middle East developments and inflation-related concerns.
8. USD/JPY is consolidating the previous day’s strong move higher to a fresh 40-year high, just below the 164.00 mark on Friday. The pair is drawing support from Japanese verbal intervention and a pickup in Japan’s headline National CPI inflation amid a retreat in the U.S. Dollar and Oil prices. All eyes remain on looming Japanese FX intervention and Mideast headlines.
Anthony Scaramucci positioned gold as “part of the answer” to a changing monetary system under strain from fiscal pressures and declining purchasing power. The former White House Communications Director warned that national debt could rise from the current $39 trillion to $55 trillion within the next decade. He framed deficit spending as an “unfunded tax liability” that would trigger inflation and borrowing costs, an assessment shared by other notable figures, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Scaramucci added that inflation effectively monetizes debt by eroding the currency’s value, so $1,000 would have only $750 in purchasing power. He pitched gold as “part of the answer” to this evolving monetary system, deeming it as an inflation hedge. “That’s why I’m long gold.”
Michael Burry, the investor who accurately predicted the U.S. housing crash in 2008, is not feeling good about the state of the stock market these days. The investor, known as the inspiration for the 2015 film The Big Short, which looked at his prediction of the subprime mortgage crisis, has repeatedly stated that the market’s long-running rally is about to end, with a significant decline potentially on the way. Throughout 2026, he has continued making moves that suggest he remains concerned about parts of the market — particularly the surge in AI-related stocks. His latest bearish bets against some high-profile technology names have underscored his belief that investor excitement may have pushed some valuations too far. He compared the setup to the opportunities he found after the dot-com bubble began to unwind, saying he was “patiently acquiring” companies that the market had moved away from. Part of the reason for his bearishness is the resemblance between today’s market and the final parts of the dot-com bubble. Investors, he added, are ignoring economic data and global events to focus on just one thing instead: AI, in this case. “Absolutely non-stop AI. Nobody is talking about anything else all day,”
Mortgage rates continued their climb last week, but homebuyers trickled back into the market, perhaps taking advantage of less competition and some price cuts. That helped push total mortgage demand last week 1.9% higher compared with the previous week. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, $832,750 or less, increased to 6.69% from 6.65%, with points decreasing to 0.62 from 0.67, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment. That was the highest rate since last August. As a result, refinance demand, which is highly sensitive to weekly rate moves, fell 2% for the week and was just 7% higher than the same week one year ago. Last year at this time, the average on the 30-year fixed loan was just 15 basis points 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)
| Jul. 17, 2026 | Jul. 24, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $4,009.85 | $4,064.63 | 54.78 | 1.37% |
| Silver | $55.94 | $58.57 | 2.63 | 4.70% |
| Platinum | $1,599.92 | $1,593.78 | -6.14 | -0.38% |
| Palladium | $1,251.32 | $1,248.09 | -3.23 | -0.26% |
| Dow | 52146.42 | 51947.94 | -198.48 | -0.38% |
Previous Year Comparison
| Jul. 25, 2025 | Jul. 24, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $3,336.00 | $4,064.63 | 728.63 | 21.84% |
| Silver | $38.73 | $58.57 | 19.84 | 51.23% |
| Platinum | $1,404.73 | $1,593.78 | 189.05 | 13.46% |
| Palladium | $1,229.30 | $1,248.09 | 18.79 | 1.53% |
| Dow | 44901.92 | 51947.94 | 7046.02 | 15.69% |
Here are your Short-Term Support and Resistance Levels for the upcoming week.
| Gold | Silver | |
| Support | 4033/3943/3870 | 56.87/53.84/51.73 |
| Resistance | 4106/4196/4269 | 58.98/62.01/64.11 |
| Platinum | Palladiumn | |
| Support | 1540/1484/1407 | 1208/1166/1104 |
| Resistance | 1673/1750/1806 | 1312/1373/1415 |