Gold and silver rise; gold on track for first weekly gain since May
Gold bars are stored in a safe room in Munich, January 28, 2026.
Angelika Warmuth | Reuters
Spot gold prices rose 1.4% on Friday morning, putting them on track for their first weekly rise in five weeks after the precious metal has come under persistent pressure this year.
until 4:30 ET, spot gold It was trading around $4,182.28 per ounce and heading for a 2.3% weekly gain; This would be its first weekly rise since late May. Front-month US gold futures rose 1.5% on an intraday basis.
spot gold
Gold prices have fallen this year due to concerns about rising inflation, a strengthening dollar and the hawkish tendency in central banks after the US-Iran war reduced appetite.
The yellow metal recorded its worst quarter in 13 years in the three months through June and is trading at a discount of around 22% from the all-time high of $5,300 reached in January.
Gold’s rebound this week comes after US nonfarm payrolls data released on Thursday showed the American economy added 57,000 jobs in June; That was down from the downwardly revised 129,000 in May and below Dow Jones’ consensus estimate of 115,000.
Markets are currently pricing in a 53.5% chance that the Fed will raise interest rates by at least a quarter point in September after keeping interest rates steady in July, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
Before Thursday’s employment report was released, markets were giving the probability of a rate hike in September around 65%.
Precious metals gain
Precious metals rose on Friday morning. spot silver It rose 2.9% to $62.77 per ounce, putting it on track for weekly gains of around 6.7%. Silver futures for August delivery rose 3.5%.
spot silver
spot platinum It was last traded at $1,660.10, up 2.8%, while palladium was trading at $1,280.09, up about 1%.
In a note published Friday, strategists at OCBC said they were “cautiously constructive” on gold.
“Weaker-than-expected payroll data helps reduce the risk of hawk tail,” they said. “In the short term, we will change our tone from cautious to cautiously constructive. If incoming US data continues to limit real yields and the USD, gold may extend the recovery.”
However, they said some tactical measures were necessary as unemployment remained stable, the Fed’s hawkish rhetoric and inflation risks remained intact.
“For a more durable recovery in gold, real yields need to ease more decisively, ETF/investor demand needs to stabilize, and the Fed needs to step back from its hawkish rhetoric,” they said. “Technically, the risks are upside”
Both gold and silver have experienced record-breaking gains in 2025, rising 66% and 135% respectively for the year. They are down 3% and 12% so far this year.
Trading soon became volatile, with the rally continuing into early 2026. Silver futures took their biggest single-day hit since the 1980s at the end of January, while gold’s safe haven status came into question with the outbreak of the US-Iran war in February.
