(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are sharply higher in midday U.S. trading Thursday, on strong corrective rebounds and perceived bargain hunting following recent heavy selling pressure. Daily price volatility remains high, which if sustained generally does not favor the bulls. December gold was last up $90.50 at $4,156.50. December silver prices were up $1.259 at $48.94.
In overnight news, spot prices for platinum in London surged by as much as 6.4% to $1,646.03 an ounce on Wednesday, the biggest intraday jump since 2020. The benchmark spot contract hit a $53.45-per-ounce premium over futures, up from $28 on Tuesday, suggesting a scramble to obtain physical metal. Platinum is “tightening heavily with dislocations now pushing extremes, echoing fears of another silver-squeeze moment,” said Dan Ghali, senior commodity strategist at TD Securities and as reported by Bloomberg.
The key outside market today see the U.S. dollar index slightly firmer. Crude oil futures are sharply up and trading around $61.75 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note is presently around 4.0%.
The marketplace on Friday gets the first piece of major U.S. government economic data in three weeks: the consumer price index report for September. CPI is seen coming in at up 3.1%, year-on-year, compared to the August report that showed a 2.9% annual rise. The core CPI (excluding food and energy) is seen coming in at up 3.1% in September, annually, which would be unchanged from the August core reading.
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, December gold futures bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $4,250.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $4,000.00. First resistance is seen at Wednesday’s high of $4,175.00 and then at $4,200.00. First support is seen at $4,100.00 and then at the overnight low of $4,079.60. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.5.
The silver market bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage but stiff resistance levels lie above the market. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $50.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $45.00. First resistance is seen at today’s high of $49.225 and then at $50.00. Next support is seen at $48.00 and then at the overnight low of $47.64. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.5.
(Hey! My “Markets Front Burner” weekly email report is my best writing and analysis, I think, because I get to look ahead at the marketplace and do some market price forecasting. Plus, Gold prices are sharply up in early U.S. trading Monday and hit another record high.
Silver prices are also up and notched another 14-year high. The powerful but mature bull market runs in gold and silver are accelerating. That’s one early clue that from a time perspective, major market tops could come sooner rather than later. However, from a price perspective, there still could be much more room on the upside for gold and silver prices during this acceleration phase of the mature bull markets, before they peter out for a while. December gold was last up $40.80 at $3,815.90. December silver prices were up $0.361 at $44.575.
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