(Kitco NewsWire) - Spot gold prices were lower and spot silver prices were firmer in late U.S. trading Wednesday, as a hot U.S. producer-price print, a firmer dollar and Treasury yields near the 4.5% area offset safe-haven demand tied to the U.S.-Iran conflict and the Strait of Hormuz crisis. At the time of writing, spot gold was trading near $4,687.20 an ounce, down 0.58%, while spot silver was trading at $87.660, up 1.09% on the session.
April producer prices reset the macro tone. Final-demand PPI rose 1.4% in April after a 0.7% March gain and 0.6% February gain, the largest monthly advance since March 2022. The 12-month rate rose to 6.0%, while final-demand goods gained 2.0%, services rose 1.2%, energy jumped 7.8% and gasoline climbed 15.6%.
The PPI print followed Tuesday’s April CPI release, which showed consumer prices up 0.6% on the month and 3.8% from a year earlier. Core CPI rose 0.4% on the month and 2.8% over 12 months. The two-day inflation sequence kept the rate-cut trade under pressure and left gold unable to hold above the $4,700 area, even with Middle East risk still embedded in energy and bullion.
The U.S.-Iran conflict remains the core geopolitical input for gold. Ceasefire diplomacy has stalled, the Strait of Hormuz remains impaired and oil flows through the waterway are still far below normal. Roughly 20 million barrels a day of crude oil and oil products moved through the strait in 2025, about one-quarter of global seaborne oil trade.
For bullion, the conflict is a two-sided driver: it supports haven demand and geopolitical hedging, but the resulting oil shock is also feeding inflation expectations, lifting nominal yields and strengthening the dollar, which capped gold Wednesday.
Silver traded differently. The white metal’s session range stretched from $82.710 to $89.470, keeping the $90 area in focus and extending silver’s outperformance versus gold. The move kept the gold-silver ratio compression trade active, with industrial-demand and relative-value buying offsetting the same yield and dollar pressure that weighed on gold.
The key outside markets see Nymex WTI crude oil prices lower and trading around $101.02 a barrel, while Brent crude was near $105.63. The U.S. dollar index was firmer after the PPI release. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note is trading near the 4.5% area.
Technically, spot gold bulls' next upside price objective is to push prices back above the $4,774 to $4,792 resistance zone, with a sustained move targeting $4,891 and then $5,024. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is a break below $4,638, with deeper downside targets at $4,550 and then $4,530. First resistance is seen at $4,774 and then at $4,792. First support is seen at $4,660 to $4,680 and then at $4,638.
Spot silver bulls' next upside price objective is to drive prices back above the $90.00 area, with a move above that zone targeting $95.00 to $96.00 and then $100.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is a break below $85.00 to $86.00, with deeper downside targets at $80.00 and then $78.00 to $79.00. First resistance is seen at $90.00 and then at $95.00 to $96.00. Next support is seen at $85.00 to $86.00 and then at $80.00.
