1. Oil prices slipped on Monday as investors booked profits from the multi-month highs hit at the end of last week, with the focus remaining on the potential for the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine to alter the global oil supply-demand balance. Brent crude futures fell $1.45, or 1.32%, to $108.41 a barrel after settling at their highest since May 19 on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $101.09 a barrel, down 32 cents, or 0.32%, after ending last week at its highest since September 17.
2. U.S. homebuilder sentiment plunged to the lowest level in nearly 14-1/2 years in October as the Middle East conflict boosted mortgage rates and prices of energy-related building materials, a survey showed on Monday. The National Association of Home Builders index dropped three points to 29 this month, the lowest level since June 2012. Sagging demand has left homebuilders with excess inventory of unsold new homes on the market, also discouraging them from breaking ground on new single-family housing projects.
3. The U.S. dollar slipped on Tuesday as doubts over the AI trade resurfaced, while the euro edged up despite traders’ lingering worries about unrest in France. Strong capital inflows into stocks have supported the dollar. Higher interest rates, driven partly by growth and inflation tied to the sector, have also helped. “The dollar has been supported by big inflows into the equity market,” said Dominic Bunning, head of G10 FX strategy at Nomura. Now, he said, “there is a lot more skepticism about the degree to which a lot of these companies will be profitable enough to justify the amount of issuance that having to be made at the moment … and whether this whole ecosystem can be profitable enough in the context of higher rates over a period of time.” The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.27% to 101.69, with the euro up 0.2% at $1.1232.
4. U.S. business activity grew at a slightly slower pace in October but remained close to a multi-year high as robust demand pushed new orders, employment and prices higher. The S&P Global flash composite index fell 0.8 point to 57.6 in October, data released Friday showed. That was the second-highest reading since 2022. Figures above 50 indicate expansion. A gauge of selling prices rose at the fastest pace in more than four years, reflecting a sharp rise in the cost of energy, transportation and raw materials. “Cost pressures remain a key concern, notably as the renewed surge in oil prices reverberates through to impact a wide variety of goods and services,” Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a statement. Even so, Williamson said that, outside the pandemic reopening, U.S. businesses are enjoying their strongest period of growth since 2015.
5. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to near 57-year lows last week, pointing to low layoffs and labor market stability. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 194,000 for the week ended October 17, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled had forecasted 200,000 claims for the latest week.
6. Oil prices edged higher on Friday after Houthi attacks near the Red Sea stoked worries of escalating fighting in the Middle East. Brent crude futures held at $110 per barrel. The international benchmark was on track for its third consecutive week of gains. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude traded near $100 a barrel, on pace to finish the week down roughly 0.5%.
7. The euro fell on Friday and was on track for a weekly loss against both the U.S. dollar and the yen as a selloff in French government bonds pushed the country’s debt risk premium to its highest level since the euro zone sovereign debt crisis in 2011. EUR/USD declines for the third consecutive day trading around 1.1200, down 0.12% on the day at the time of writing.
8. The Japanese yen, meanwhile, was on track for a weekly increase against the greenback as it benefited from safe haven flows from the selloff in artificial intelligence stocks. USD/JPY reverses earlier losses on Friday after slipping to a five-week low of 156.08 during Asian trading hours.
Gold will continue to appreciate as the systemic problems of ballooning debt, runaway deficits, and currency depreciation worsen, according to Evy Hambro, global head of thematic and sector investing at BlackRock. Hambro was asked in a recent interview whether he expects the mild stagflation, weak dollar, and geopolitical turmoil that characterize the current market environment to continue. “I think so,” he said. “If we look out and try to see what’s going on in the market, it’s very, very clear to me, and I think to some people, that the bond markets, government bonds, are talking. They’re telling you things aren’t healthy. The rates are going up, and the levels of debt are very, very large. The annual deficits that governments are having to fund are growing. And that’s putting a lot of pressure on the financial system.” Hambro said real assets are one way to protect against ongoing currency devaluation, debt, and deficits. “Real assets can be infrastructure, it can be commodities, it can be gold,” he said. “Those are the kinds of things that through time have protected purchasing power. I started this job 30-odd years ago, and the price of copper was 60 cents a pound: it’s six bucks. And gold was $300 an ounce, and it’s $4,000 an ounce. So, it’s very much a long-term store of value. There have been periods of time when it’s outperformed and then underperformed, but generally, through time it’s been that fantastic asset. I think that people are relearning that lesson.”
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says the AI industry needs to focus on safety following this summer’s revelations that AI agents from leading labs broke free of containment and hacked into websites, including Hugging Face. “It shouldn’t have happened. Doesn’t need to happen,” Huang stated at Nvidia’s GTC Berlin conference. During his keynote on Wednesday, Huang revealed Nvidia’s OpenShell Reference Architecture, which the company said will allow customers to build, contain, and observe AI agents. If an agent attempts to go rogue, Nvidia said the system can intervene and stop it. “Hugging Face developed an exercise, a simulator, and they came to the conclusion: If OpenShell existed, their website wouldn’t have been attacked that way,” Huang said. “We have to accelerate AI safety, and safety technology and capability to me is one and the same … As much as it is capable, you want it to be safe. The two of them are really one and the same. And so, in the future, as we develop these AI capabilities, safety will come along with it,” he added.
Mortgage applications have continued their downward slide even as mortgage rates ticked down for the first time in months. Applications for new home purchases dropped 7% through Friday compared to a week earlier, while refinancing deals were down 2%, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data. Compared to a year ago, purchase applications are down 18% as buyers remain priced out of the market. The latest declines come even as the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped for the first time in two months to 7.41%, suggesting that many buyers feel priced out by current market conditions.
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)
| Oct. 16, 2026 | Oct. 23, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $4,161.10 | $4,000.14 | -160.96 | -3.87% |
| Silver | $57.15 | $54.05 | -3.10 | -5.42% |
| Platinum | $1,630.21 | $1,557.25 | -72.96 | -4.48% |
| Palladium | $1,114.27 | $1,046.89 | -67.38 | -6.05% |
| Dow | 51994.33 | 52207.79 | 213.46 | 0.41% |
Previous Year Comparison
| Oct. 24, 2025 | Oct. 23, 2026 | Net Change | ||
| Gold | $4,106.87 | $4,000.14 | -106.73 | -2.60% |
| Silver | $48.53 | $54.05 | 5.52 | 11.37% |
| Platinum | $1,612.97 | $1,557.25 | -55.72 | -3.45% |
| Palladium | $1,443.30 | $1,046.89 | -396.41 | -27.47% |
| Dow | 47207.12 | 52207.79 | 5000.67 | 10.59% |
Here are your Short-Term Support and Resistance Levels for the upcoming week.
| Gold | Silver | |
| Support | 4086/4008/3942 | 54.35/51.69/48.12 |
| Resistance | 4230/4296/4374 | 57.92/60.58/64.15 |
| Platinum | Palladiumn | |
| Support | 1582/1532/1467 | 1082/1048/1005 |
| Resistance | 1698/1763/1814 | 1125/1159/1202 |