1. Gold and silver prices are having a summer end to remember. Gold prices are up a sizzling 15% this month while silver has surged 19%. Combined, the metals have added nearly $5 trillion in market value this month. Gold and silver prices are being fueled by a potent combination of monetary policy interventions, escalating geopolitical friction in the Middle East, and persistent global inflation. A major catalyst for the late-August breakout has been U.S. Treasury’s unexpected decision to double its long-term bond buyback program to $4 billion per session. In turn, this has triggered an aggressive wave of short-covering and speculative buying across precious metals markets. At the same time, the war with Iran -which has pushed up energy prices once again, has reinforced gold’s status as the primary global safe-haven asset. Beyond shared macroeconomic factors, silver’s dramatic outperformance also reflects an acute physical supply deficit and compounding industrial demand. Long-term structural consumption from AI data center infrastructure, electrical grid modernizations, and advanced electronics continues to absorb physical inventory faster than global mine production can keep pace.
2. Home prices rose again in June as mortgage rates stabilized during the typical peak period for buying and selling. The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which measures home prices in 20 of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, increased 2.1% in June from a year earlier, according to data released Tuesday. The national index, which includes more metro areas, jumped 1.5%. Mortgage rates held steady around 6.5% in June, a level high enough to sideline many prospective buyers and sellers. But those who remained in the market enjoyed a period of stability after rates rose rapidly in the spring.
3. The U.S. dollar held steady on Tuesday but remained at risk of further declines as investors parsed Washington’s expanded sanctions against Iran and renewed efforts to ease pressure on longer-dated Treasury yields. A report on Monday stated that the Treasury could use part of its cash balance to buy back longer-dated bonds helped steady long-term yields, although investors see a confluence of factors that could keep the dollar under pressure through the rest of the year. A softer dollar would also work in favor of the administration that wants more U.S. companies to export. Further, traders have also pared expectations for an imminent interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, with probabilities for a 25-basis point rise in September now standing at around 40%, down from 67% earlier this month.
4. America’s new home market is showing fresh signs of strain, with sales plunging in July even as the typical price of a newly built house fell to its lowest level in five years. The median sales price of a new home dropped to $393,800 last month, down 2.3 percent from June and the lowest figure recorded since July 2021, according to newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development. New-home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 607,000 in July, a dramatic 10.5 percent drop from June’s revised rate of 678,000 and 6.3 percent below the same month last year. The July figure was also the slowest sales pace since January.
5. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell for a second straight week while the overall number of people on jobless relief rolls slid to the lowest level in a month, suggesting the labor market remains stable despite a surprise drop in employment in July. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 203,000 for the week ended August 22, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled had forecasted 208,000 claims for the latest week.
6. Crude oil prices were on course to book another weekly loss despite no sign of any progress being made towards peace between Iran and the United States. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $89.17 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $83.19 per barrel. Brent was down by 5.3% over the week, and WTI was set for a 4.3% decline.
7. EUR/USD trades around 1.1645 on Friday, posting a modest 0.07% decline on the day as investors adopt a wait-and-see approach ahead of a highly anticipated speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh at the Jackson Hole Symposium. The pair remains under pressure after resuming its recent downward trend, with the U.S. Dollar benefiting from a more hawkish tone among several U.S. central bank officials.
8. Japan delivered the inflation and labor data the Bank of Japan needs to move next month, and the Japanese Yen is weaker for a fifth consecutive session. Tokyo Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation excluding food and energy reached 2% in August; the headline rate rose to 1.9%, and unemployment fell to 2.4% against a 2.5% forecast. USD/JPY presses the 160.00 handle regardless, at the high of the day.
Gold is a “strategic mineral” to the Chinese government and plays a central role not only in the country’s long-term economic policies, but also in its national security strategy – and the international “Gold Road” initiative is a central component in all of this. China’s globalization strategy was interrupted by COVID; it has since been revived with a renewed focus on gold that will likely drive Chinese efforts for years to come. “The globalization drive slowed during the pandemic, but it resumed with greater urgency in 2022,” they wrote. That year, Western sanctions froze Russia’s foreign exchange reserves due to the Russia-Ukraine war. This raised concerns among policymakers in China and elevated the importance of gold as a potential way to address such risks. As a result of this and other ensuing events, national security objectives such as improving economic resilience and reducing foreign reliance were elevated to become central organizing principles behind China’s policies. “The Gold Road (also reported as ‘Gold Corridor’) aims to promote yuan-based gold trading and settlement globally,” they said. Driven by China’s long-term aims such as broadening yuan-use, improving resilience, and reducing reliance on the U.S. dollar, the initiative will likely see gradual progress but continued commitment. While some see the economic advantages of trading gold in yuan or holding gold as reserves as debatable for China, this implies that such considerations will likely be outranked by the new security objectives.
Kansas City Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Schmid said Thursday that he is not certain the Fed’s current interest rate policy is doing enough to restrain inflation, adding uncertainty to the outlook for monetary policy heading into the fall. With the economy growing at 1.5% in the second quarter and unemployment at 4.1%, Schmid questioned whether the Fed’s current policy rate target of 3.5% to 3.75% is actually constraining economic activity. “I don’t know what we’re restricting currently with the rate policy that we’re at today,” he said. The remarks followed a Commerce Department release the previous day showing that the Fed’s preferred inflation measure put core prices, stripping out food and energy costs at 3.3% above where they were a year earlier, a figure that sits above the central bank’s 2% target. Although Schmid is without a formal vote on the FOMC in the current cycle, he attends and weighs in at meetings. In 2025, when he did hold a vote, he registered two dissents opposing rate reductions.
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)
| Aug. 21, 2026 | Aug. 28, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $4,620.54 | $4,471.65 | -148.89 | -3.22% |
| Silver | $69.51 | $66.87 | -2.64 | -3.80% |
| Platinum | $1,879.64 | $1,825.67 | -53.97 | -2.87% |
| Palladium | $1,347.89 | $1,417.92 | 70.03 | 5.20% |
| Dow | 53307.62 | 53559.34 | 251.72 | 0.47% |
Previous Year Comparison
| Aug. 29, 2025 | Aug. 28, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $3,443.82 | $4,471.65 | 1027.83 | 29.85% |
| Silver | $39.78 | $66.87 | 27.09 | 68.10% |
| Platinum | $1,372.15 | $1,825.67 | 453.52 | 33.05% |
| Palladium | $1,108.50 | $1,417.92 | 309.42 | 27.91% |
| Dow | 45545.78 | 53559.34 | 8013.56 | 17.59% |
Here are your Short-Term Support and Resistance Levels for the upcoming week.
| Gold | Silver | |
| Support | 4407/4212/4099 | 64.35/59.71/56.86 |
| Resistance | 4715/4828/5024 | 71.83/74.68/79.32 |
| Platinum | Palladiumn | |
| Support | 1754/1628/1549 | 1334/1298/1243 |
| Resistance | 1960/2039/2165 | 1425/1481/1505 |