NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 17:43 ET — After-hours
- Gold rebounded after Monday’s sharp drop from record highs as year-end liquidity stayed thin.
- Gold-linked ETFs and miners steadied in late U.S. trading after intraday volatility.
- Traders turn to Wednesday’s jobless claims and the last U.S. session of 2025.
Gold prices rebounded on Tuesday, helping gold-linked stocks hold firmer in U.S. after-hours trading after a sharp two-day swing.
The timing matters. Year-end liquidity is thin, and that has made price moves look bigger and faster than many traders expected.
Investors are also repricing the path for U.S. interest rates after the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes highlighted divisions on policy, keeping the dollar and yields in focus.
The SPDR Gold Shares exchange-traded fund (ETF) — a stock-like fund backed by physical bullion — was up 0.1% at $398.89 in late trade. The VanEck Gold Miners ETF rose 1.2%, while Newmont gained about 2% and Agnico Eagle added 0.3%.
On Monday, spot gold slid 4.47% to $4,329.65 an ounce, as investors booked profits and tracked shifting headlines around the Russia-Ukraine peace talks, Reuters reported.
Spot gold was up 0.8% at $4,364.70 by 2:07 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and U.S. gold futures settled 1% higher at $4,386.30, Reuters said. “We saw very extreme volatility yesterday … but things have stabilised somewhat today,” said Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals. Gold is still up about 66% in 2025 and is poised for its best year since 1979, Reuters added, while silver rose more than 7% on the day after Monday’s steep drop. Reuters
One driver of the whipsaw has been leverage. CME Group said updated performance bond requirements — known as margin, the cash collateral traders post to hold leveraged futures positions — would take effect after the close of business on Dec. 29, and its advisory showed increases across a range of precious-metals contracts.
Fed officials’ minutes from the Dec. 9-10 meeting showed policymakers split over how much further to ease after the central bank lowered its benchmark rate to a 3.50%-3.75% range. The Fed next meets Jan. 27-28, and investors expect it to leave rates unchanged, Reuters reported.
A firmer dollar and higher Treasury yields can cap gold because the metal pays no interest, but safe-haven demand tends to support it when geopolitical risks rise. The dollar index rose to 98.23 on Tuesday and the 10-year Treasury yield edged up to about 4.12%, Reuters reported.
Looking ahead, the U.S. Labor Department’s schedule shows the weekly initial jobless claims report is due on Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 8:30 a.m. EST, instead of Thursday because of the New Year’s holiday.
U.S. stock exchanges are set to keep regular hours on Dec. 31 but will be closed on Jan. 1, while the bond market is due to close early at 2 p.m. on Dec. 31, MarketWatch reported.
For gold, traders are watching whether prices can hold above Monday’s low near $4,330 and keep pressure on last week’s record area around $4,550. Thin liquidity into the turn of the year, combined with margin-driven de-risking, has kept volatility elevated.
