Gold futures slump as silver falls by more than 2%

Gold bars

Gold prices dropped today, Dec. 19, despite the rise in spot prices as investors seized short-term grabs after expectations of US monetary easing in 2025 faded.

February gold futures slumped 0.93%, or $24.70, to trade at $2,628.60 per ounce at 11:54 am Makkah time. Spot prices, however, jumped by 1.18%, or $30.51, to $2,618.14 an ounce.

Elsewhere, March silver futures plummeted by 2.39% to $30 per ounce, while platinum spot prices soared 0.83% to $928.86 per ounce.

This came after spot prices shed more than 2% yesterday after Federal Reserve members indicated that they expect to tame the pace of interest rate cuts in 2025.

“Very short-term orientated speculators are looking for opportunities to buy the dips and gold’s gain is because of short-covering after the metal touched the psychological level of $2,600 yesterday,” Kelvin Wong, OANDA’s senior market analyst for Asia Pacific, told Reuters.

All eyes are on the US personal consumption expenditure inflation data, due to be released tomorrow, Dec. 20. Expectations suggest an annualized rise to 2.6% in November, from 2.3% in the previous month.