Precious metals surge to historic milestone

Shafaq News

Gold climbed on Wednesday to again hit a record, while silver surpassed the never-before-seen $90 mark, as softer-than-expected U.S. inflation readings cemented bets on interest rate cuts amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.

Spot gold rose 1% to $4,633.40 per ounce as of 0525 GMT, after hitting a record high of $4,639.42 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures for February delivery rose 0.8% to $4,640.90.

Spot silver jumped 4.2% to $90.59 per ounce after breaching $90 for the first time, having shot up nearly 27% already this year.

"U.S. CPI figures showed that inflation remained relatively contained at 2.6% (year-on-year), and risk assets may be hoping for a similarly benign PPI reading to keep expectations alive for further monetary policy easing," said Tim Waterer, KCM Trade's chief market analyst.

The U.S. core Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% month-on-month and 2.6% year-on-year in December, falling short of analysts' ⁠expectations of a 0.3% and 2.7% increase, respectively. U.S. core Producer Price Index data for December is due later in the day.

U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed the inflation figures, reiterating his push for the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates "meaningfully."

Global central bank chiefs and top Wall Street bank CEOs lined up in support of Powell on Tuesday after news of the Trump administration's decision to investigate him drew condemnation from former Fed chiefs as well.

Analysts say worries ⁠around Fed independence and ⁠trust in U.S. assets added to safe-haven demand for the yellow metal.

Investors expect two 25-basis-point rate cuts this year, with the earliest in June.

Non-yielding assets tend to do well in a low-interest-rate environment and during geopolitical or economic uncertainty.

ANZ expects gold to trade above $5,000/oz in the first half of 2026, the bank said in a note on Wednesday.

For silver, the next big figure was the $100 mark and high two-digit percentage gains for the metal seem likely this year, said GoldSilver Central managing director Brian Lan.

Elsewhere, spot platinum climbed 4% to $2,415.95 per ounce, a one-week high. It hit a record $2,478.50/oz on December 29.

Palladium was up 3.3% at $1,899.44 per ounce.

(Reuters)

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