Gold hits 6-week high, silver record high as bulls are snorting

(Kitco News, Monday. Dec. 1st, 2025) – Gold and silver prices are higher in early U.S. trading Monday, with gold scoring a six-week high and silver an all-time record high. Safe-haven demand is featured to start the trading week and the new month, amid bond market jitters that have originated from Japan. Chart-based buying is also featured in both metals as their near-term technical postures have become more bullish recently. February gold was last up $28.20 at $4,283.40. March silver prices were up $0.597 at $57.77 after hitting a contract/record high of $58.61 overnight.

Global stock markets were mostly weaker overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed to solidly lower openings when the New York day session begins. Worries about Japan’s bond market have traders and investors jittery to start the week and the month.

In other news, President Trump on Sunday said he has decided on his pick for the next Federal Reserve chair and expects his nominee to deliver interest-rate cuts. Trump’s chief economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, is seen as the likely choice to succeed current Fed chief Jerome Powell, according to people familiar with the matter and as reported by Bloomberg. The person Trump picks will require U.S. Senate confirmation as chair and likely to a 14-year Fed governor term that begins in February if the selection is an outsider. Powell’s term ends in May.

U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators over the weekend in Florida had productive discussions about a framework for a peace deal, but there was no final breakthrough. The two sides discussed potential parameters for a ceasefire and the status of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. “The next steps will be decided in follow-up meetings, depending on the outcome of U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff’s talks in Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s response to the proposals, said a Bloomberg report. “There’s more work to be done,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Florida after meeting for at least four hours with Ukrainian officials led by National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov. “This is delicate. It’s complicated.” Said Trump aboard Air Force One Sunday: “I think Russia would like to see it end. I know Ukraine would like to see it end. Ukraine’s got some difficult little problems,” Trump told reporters, adding he spoke with Rubio and Witkoff following the talks in Florida. Ukraine has “a corruption situation going on, which is not helpful,” Trump said. “But I think there’s a good chance we can make a deal.”

U.S. holiday shopping season off to a good start… U.S. sales on Black Friday rose from a year earlier, with retail sales excluding autos increasing 4.1% on the day after Thanksgiving, according to data from Mastercard SpendingPulse and as reported by Bloomberg. The data showed U.S. shoppers’ resilience amid higher costs and job-market concerns, with retailers offering discounts on a wide range of goods to appeal to price-sensitive consumers. “Despite macroeconomic swings, shoppers appear to have purchasing power and were spending at a consistent level heading into Black Friday, although the outlook for the rest of the shopping period remains in flux,” said the Bloomberg report.

OPEC-plus will stick with plans to pause its collective crude oil production increases during the first quarter of 2026, amid growing signs of a surplus in global oil markets. “Key members led by Saudi Arabia confirmed the three-month supply pause, first announced at the start of November, during a video conference on Sunday following a series of meetings among the wider alliance. In a statement, the group reiterated that the decision reflected its expectations for weaker seasonal market conditions. OPEC+ members also agreed to keep group-wide quotas steady next year and approved a mechanism for an upcoming review of individual oil production capacities, the group said separately. The review is expected to help set output quotas in 2027,” said a Bloomberg report. While the pause on output hikes indicates some caution by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners after they rapidly revived oil production earlier this year, it still leaves world markets on track for a significant excess in early 2026, which is likely to put further pressure on prices,” said Bloomberg. Oil futures prices have declined around 15% so far this year. The International Energy Agency in Paris predicts a record glut in 2026, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. see crude oil futures prices heading lower.

China’s factory activity improved but remained in contraction in November, extending its streak of declines to a record as the country’s economic slowdown deepens, fresh data on Sunday showed. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index was 49.2, remaining below the 50.0 mark that separates growth and contraction, for an eighth month. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 49.4. The non-manufacturing measure of activity in construction and services reached 49.5, after inching up to 50.1 in October, the National Bureau of Statistics said Sunday. It was the first contraction for the index in nearly three years, driven by weakness in the real estate and residential services sectors. “The readings offer an early glimpse of how the world’s second-biggest economy fared in November, after months of global trade turbulence and an unprecedented decline in investment. So far this quarter, industrial production had its smallest gain since the start of the year, while exports unexpectedly contracted, as global demand failed to offset the slump in shipments to the U.S.,” said Bloomberg.

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index lower. Crude oil prices are firmer and trading around $59.25 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note is presently 4.04%.

Note: The gold market operates through two primary pricing mechanisms. The first is the spot market, which quotes prices for on-the-spot purchase and immediate delivery. The second is the futures market, which sets prices for delivery at a future date. Due to year-end positioning market liquidity, the December gold futures contract is currently the most actively traded on the CME.

Technically, February gold futures bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the contract/record high of $4,433.00. Bears’ next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $4,000.00. First resistance is seen at $4,300.00 and then at $4,350.00. First support is seen at the overnight low of $4,241.10 and then at $4,200.00.

March silver futures bulls have the strong overall near-term technical advantage. Their next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $60.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $52.50. First resistance is seen at the record high of $58.61 and then at $59.00. Next support is seen at the overnight low of $56.85 and then at $56.00.

Posted by:

Jack Dempsey, President

401 Gold Consultants LLC

jdemp2003@gmail.com