(Bloomberg) — Gold steadied near a record high, as traders weighed the outlook for US monetary policy following economic data that supported the case for interest-rate cuts.
Spot gold rose 0.6% on Friday before paring the advance to trade near $4,340 an ounce, which saw it notch a second straight week of gains. The core US consumer price index rose at the slowest pace since early 2021, according to data released Thursday, bolstering the case for lower borrowing costs – a tailwind for non-yielding precious metals.
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However, the latest inflation report was muddled by a record six-week government shutdown that ended last month. Since delivering its third straight rate cut last week, the Federal Reserve has been ambiguous about the future pace of monetary easing. Traders are assigning a roughly 20% chance of a reduction in January, while US President Donald Trump has advocated aggressively for lowering rates next year.
Precious metals have been on a scorching rally this year, with both gold and silver set for their best annual performances since 1979. Silver has more than doubled and gold has jumped almost two-thirds on a run underpinned by elevated central-bank buying and inflows into bullion-backed exchange-traded funds.
Falling US interest rates have led ETF investors “to start competing for limited bullion with central banks,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts including Daan Struyven said in a note. “We expect the same two drivers — structurally high central-bank demand and cyclical support from Fed cuts — to lift the gold price further.”
Platinum has also more than doubled this year. The metal’s surge to above $1,980 an ounce — the highest since 2008 — has come as the London market shows signs of tightening, with banks parking supplies in the US to insure against the risk of tariffs.
Spot gold rose to $ an ounce as of in New York, up 0.9% for the week. It hit an all-time high above $4,381 in October. Silver rose to $ an ounce, trading near a record of $66.89 set on Wednesday. Platinum and palladium also rose. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was up .
–With assistance from Mark Burton and Sybilla Gross.
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