Silver rises higher on short squeeze, while gold recovers to record levels

Silver hit a multi-decade high as a historic short squeeze in London amplified a powerful rally this year, while gold rose to a record, helped by broad investor enthusiasm for precious metals.

Spot silver climbed as much as 3% to almost $52 an ounce – higher than last week’s intraday high – while gold surpassed $4,068 an ounce, building on a run of eight weekly gains. Platinum and palladium also rose sharply.

Precious metals have soared this year, with the complex’s main quartet of members up between 50% and 80%, in a rally that is dominating commodity markets. Gold’s advance was supported by central bank purchases, rising investment in exchange-traded funds and interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Demand for havens was also fueled by ongoing trade tensions between the US and China, threats to the Fed’s independence and a US government shutdown.

On Sunday, China urged Washington to halt tariff threats and resume talks, warning it would retaliate if the US goes ahead with new measures. President Donald Trump – who last week advocated an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods – struck a more conciliatory tone in his weekend remarks.

“Just as geopolitical and trade risks reduced the tailwind for gold, we saw a flare-up in US-China tensions,” said Kyle Rodda, analyst at Capital.com. Despite both sides’ openness to talks, “volatility in trading may stall, but it never goes away. That’s a really good thing for gold.”

Concerns about a lack of liquidity in London pushed silver closer to the 1980 record of $52.50 an ounce – based on a now-defunct contract on the Chicago Board of Trade exchange. Benchmark prices in London have risen to near-unprecedented levels relative to New York, prompting some traders to book cargo slots on transatlantic flights for silver bars – an expensive mode of transport usually reserved for gold – to take advantage of London’s huge premiums. Traders also remain on edge as they await the conclusion of the US government’s so-called Section 232 investigation into crucial minerals – including silver, as well as platinum and palladium. Fears that the metals could be swallowed up by new tariffs have exacerbated the market tightness, partly laying the groundwork for silver’s price slide after a large decline in freely available supplies in London. Spot gold rose as much as 1.3% to $4,068.21 an ounce, trading around $4,067 as of 1:19 p.m. in Singapore. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed after rising about 1% last week. Silver rose 2.8%, above $51 an ounce. Platinum was nearly $1,634 an ounce, while palladium rose as much as 3.6%.