Gold Smashes Through $5000 as Silver Hits $100 per oz

Safe-haven demand and a softer dollar pushed gold to a record high on Monday morning, with price gapping over $5000 per oz for the first time, while silver also rallied strongly, having already broken above $100 on Friday. Equity sentiment remained cautious ahead of big tech earnings and the Fed meeting this week. In FX markets, the Japanese yen surged on fears of coordinated US–Japan currency intervention.

Equities

The FTSE 100 closed slightly lower on Friday, ending the session down after failing to extend its recent winning streak. The index finished the day marginally weaker and ended the week in the red, following three consecutive weeks of gains. The more domestically focused FTSE 250 also closed lower on Friday, retreating from a four-year high reached a day earlier, and finished the week broadly flat. Banks weighed on the blue-chip index late in the session, while commodity-linked stocks provided support.

Within UK equities, precious metal miners stood out on Friday afternoon as rising gold and silver prices lifted the sector. The precious metals mining index ended the day higher and recorded a strong gain over the week, supported by higher bullion prices. Energy stocks also closed higher late on Friday, tracking firmer oil prices.

By contrast, Irish drinks producer C&C Group slid sharply and hit a more than 16-year low during the session after management cut its full-year profit forecast. The company pointed to weaker consumer confidence following November’s UK budget, saying changes in spending habits had reduced demand across key markets. UK retail sales data released earlier in the day showed an unexpected rise in December, offering some support to domestically focused stocks despite the broader decline.

In the United States, Wall Street finished the week on a weaker footing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell on Friday and ended the week lower, while the S&P 500 closed flat on the day but also posted a weekly decline. The Nasdaq Composite edged higher on Friday but was unable to avoid a modest weekly loss. Trading was choppy throughout the week, with markets rebounding in the final two sessions after heavy losses earlier in the week.

Intel weighed heavily on sentiment late on Friday after its shares dropped sharply following the release of a cautious outlook. The chipmaker said quarterly revenue and profit were expected to fall short of market expectations, citing difficulties meeting demand for server chips used in artificial intelligence data centres. Comments from portfolio managers suggested the results reinforced investor scrutiny of which technology companies can convert heavy investment into revenue growth.

Other large US technology stocks moved higher into the close. Microsoft, Amazon and Meta all rose late on Friday, while Nvidia also closed higher after reports that Chinese authorities had signalled companies could prepare orders for its H200 AI chips. The energy sector ended Friday at another record closing high, extending gains made earlier in the week and remaining the strongest-performing sector so far this year.

Forex & Commodities

Currency markets were led early on Monday by a sharp move in the Japanese yen, which rose to a two-month high near 153.9 per dollar as traders remained alert to the risk of coordinated intervention by US and Japanese authorities.

The dollar moved lower more broadly during Asian and early European trading, with the dollar index sitting near 97.16. Sterling edged higher and was trading around $1.366 later in the morning, while the euro firmed to levels last seen in November near $1.186. Investors were also trimming dollar positions ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting and amid uncertainty over when the White House may name a successor to Jerome Powell.

The shift in currencies supported precious metals. Spot gold pushed through successive records early this morning, trading around $5,090 per ounce after briefly touching $5,110. Silver also remained elevated near $107.9, having set a fresh peak earlier in the session. Platinum and palladium were both higher as well, extending gains made late last week. The rise in bullion coincided with the softer dollar and followed strong gains over the past year driven by central bank demand and investor flows.

Oil prices were higher in Asian trading after rising late on Friday, supported by weather-related disruptions in US production. Brent crude was trading near $66.30 a barrel and US crude around $61.49, with output losses reported in parts of Texas and the Bakken region. Traders were also watching developments in the Middle East after Washington confirmed the deployment of additional military assets to the region.