Spot gold prices rose on Monday to hover around $5,000 an ounce, supported by a weaker dollar, as a series of U.S. economic reports due this week put investors’ attention back on interest rates.
Spot gold was up 1% at $5,008.51 an ounce by 1141 GMT, after rising 4% on Friday. U.S. gold futures for April delivery also rose 1% to $5,029.40 an ounce.
“Gold is regaining its historic role as a neutral sovereign asset, and I think this explains the strong demand for gold, especially as the appetite for holding the US dollar as a safe-haven asset has clearly waned,” said Rania Gul, senior market analyst at XS.com.
The US dollar fell 0.3%, making US dollar-priced bullion cheaper for overseas buyers.
Investors will be watching this week’s January non-farm payrolls, CPI and new jobless claims for new monetary policy signals, with markets already pricing in at least two 25 basis point rate cuts into 2026.
Lower interest rates tend to support gold as it reduces the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said Friday that she believes the U.S. labor market is in a “shaky” situation and further rate cuts may be necessary. Meanwhile, the People’s Bank of China extended its gold buying spree for 15 months in January, according to data released by the bank on Saturday.
This “reflects a clear strategy aimed at diversifying foreign exchange reserves away from the US dollar and thereby reducing exposure to geopolitical and financial risks,” Gul added.
Spot silver rose 2.4% to $79.87 an ounce after rising nearly 10% in the previous session. It hit an all-time high of $121.64 on January 29th.
“Silver is a riskier asset than gold. When risk appetite is strong, silver tends to outperform gold,” said Fawad Razakzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com. Spot platinum fell 1.4% to $2,066.17 an ounce and palladium fell 0.9% to $1,691.45.
Nitesh Shah, commodity strategist at WisdomTree, said that after the 2025 bear market, “despite all the policy easing, the slowdown in EV sales hasn’t really materialized, so we think platinum and palladium will probably slow down.”
