Gold and silver are wrapping up yet another record-setting week that's seen economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions combine to push prices upward.
The yellow metal moved decisively through US$4,600 per ounce on Monday (January 12), trading above that level for a decent amount of the week.
For its part, silver reached what's perhaps an even more impressive price milestone, surging past US$90 per ounce and breaking US$93 on Wednesday (January 14).
At this point, there's a very long list of factors providing support for the precious metals, and we don't have time to touch on all of them today. Instead let's take a look at a few that have been making headlines over the past week or so and break them down.
First, there's the latest news in the clash between US President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. On Sunday (January 11), Powell said that two days earlier, the Department of Justice had served the Fed with grand jury subpoenas threatening a criminal indictment.
I had the chance to speak with Mario Innecco, who runs the @maneco64 channel on YouTube, not long after Powell's statement — here's how he summed it up:
"They've subpoenaed documents, and it's supposed to be related to the renovation of the Fed's headquarters in Washington, DC. But Jay Powell came out and said it's not, it's basically because they want him to cut rates.
"And he's probably right. I think they're using any kind of, let's say tricks, to try to get rid of him, because I think the administration, even though they talk about how the economy is doing so great, they are desperate."
Trump himself has said he had no knowledge of the investigation, and has also asserted that he's not interested in firing Powell, whose term as Fed chair wraps up in May.
Nevertheless, the situation has reignited concerns about Fed independence, and has provided support for gold and silver, which tend to fare better when rates are lower. The next Fed chair, who has not yet been appointed, is widely expected to fall in line with Trump.
In addition to that, geopolitical tensions have remained high. Venezuela is still in the spotlight after its former president was removed by the US last week, and this week Trump warned that the US would intervene in Iran if its executions of anti-government protesters did not stop.
Iran responded by saying it would strike US bases if that happened.
Those events and others are boosting safe-haven demand for gold, as well as silver, but I want to hone in on a couple more points on the silver side that I think are worth looking at.
One of those is the news that the US plans to hold off on new critical minerals tariffs after receiving the results of a Section 232 investigation launched last year.
While a presidential proclamation states that imports of processed critical minerals and their derivative products do constitute a national security risk for the US, the country will first take steps such as negotiating supply agreements with other nations.
Silver was recently designated a critical mineral in the US, and some market watchers believe this news out of the US was responsible for a midweek price dip for the white metal. However, others continue to highlight silver's deeper underlying drivers.
I heard recently from Andy Schectman of Miles Franklin, who emphasized that a key element supporting silver right now is the fact that more and more entities are standing for physical delivery.
Here's how he explained what he's seeing:
"For years I've been saying ... that the most well-informed, well-funded traders — and I'll highlight well informed, that being the central banks — have been standing for delivery since 2020. Very unusual, because really no one ever stood for delivery. And this started to accelerate. But all along, the US was not part of this game. We were seeing it in the Global South with the BRICs. And now all of a sudden we are seeing the most well-informed traders in North America stand for delivery in massive amounts."
Gold ended the week just below US$4,600, while silver was slightly above US$90.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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