The gold price was back in action this week, breaking above the US$4,200 per ounce level after spending about two weeks trading at lower price points.
Silver was on the rise again as well, pushing briefly past US$54 per ounce.
Both precious metals saw their biggest gains midway through the week as the US government shutdown came to an end. At 43 days, it was the longest in history, and finished on Wednesday (November 12) as eight Democrats broke ranks to vote in line with Republicans on a funding package.
US economic data has been scarce during the shutdown, and government agencies are now beginning to play catch up as workers return to their posts. While some reports are scheduled to come out next week, others could take longer or may never be released at all.
"Based on past shutdowns, we anticipate data originally scheduled for release in the first half of October — primarily data covering September — will be released fairly quickly. However, the timetable will vary depending on the normal data collection process for each indicator" — Nancy Vanden Houten, Oxford Economics
From a gold perspective, all eyes are on numbers that may impact the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision next month. While the Fed has now made two cuts in 2025, Chair Jerome Powell emphasized after the central bank's last meeting that a December reduction is not guaranteed.
More recent commentary from other Fed officials points to continued dissent, and CME Group's (NASDAQ:CME) FedWatch tool currently shows an almost even split between a cut or a pause.
That uncertainty weighed on gold and silver prices as the week drew to a close. Gold was at the US$4,080 level as of Friday (November 14) afternoon, while silver was around US$50.60.
Bullet briefing — New Orleans takeaways
For our bullet briefing this week, I want to share a few highlights from the New Orleans Investment Conference, which our team attended from November 2 to 5.
At the time, the gold price was around US$4,000 and the silver price was in the US$48 range, and my main takeaway from the experts I heard from was that the pullback would be temporary.
Given this week's price activity, it looks like that idea is already being proven right. That said, it's worth noting that most people weren't expecting such a quick turnaround — the consensus was that prices could remain at lower levels for weeks or months, with some saying gold could fall as low as US$3,600.
Does that mean a deeper correction is coming? Time will tell...
On that note, another topic that came up at the event frequently was taking profits. Quite a few people discussed how they did some trimming in October, when gold and silver prices were really running, and then put the money to work in other parts of the market.
For example, Rick Rule of Rule Investment Media talked about how he sold 25 percent of his junior gold stocks at that time. Here's how he explained his decision:
"We were in a period five weeks ago where there were no asks, there were all bids. And I've learned in the market to do what's easy. If there's no bids, be a bid. If there's no asks, be an ask. And the sector was white hot. There were so many junior financings, and when a company's financing, they're telling you that your cash is worth more than their stock. Well, they should know what their stock is worth. Since they were selling, I decided I would sell some too.
"But what was most important to me was personal. I've been a heavy investor in the sector since 2020, and I was at a period of time where I could, by selling a quarter of my position, recoup all of my capital and pay the capital gains tax and have the rest for free. I can be very patient with that remaining 75 percent."
He redeployed the cash he got from selling gold juniors into physical gold, Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX:AEM,NYSE:AEM), Franco-Nevada (TSX:FNV,NYSE:FNV), Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX:WPM,NYSE:WPM) and oil and gas stocks.
Finally, while I'm always keen to understand what's happening now, I also wanted to use this conference to start talking about which sectors will do well in 2026.
I asked almost all of my interviewees what they think next year's top-performing asset will be, and I was surprised to get a fairly wide variety of responses.
Precious metals were definitely mentioned, with multiple people saying that while silver has made impressive moves this year, it hasn't truly had a chance to shine.
But copper was also brought up numerous times, as was uranium. And I got a couple of outlier responses, including emerging markets, which Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Asset Management discussed, and oil and gas, which Rule said would be his pick for top-performing asset in terms of risk to reward. Rule also highlighted small-scale community banks in the US.
You can view the full New Orleans Investment Conference playlist here.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.
