New York, Jan 7, 2026, 10:10 EST — Regular session
- Gold-linked shares fell as bullion eased from a one-week high.
- Miners underperformed the metal, with broad gold-miners funds also lower.
- Focus turns to U.S. jobs data for the next read on rate cuts.
Gold stocks fell on Wednesday as bullion prices slipped, with Newmont down 3.1% at $105.80 and the VanEck Gold Miners ETF off 3.7% at $88.73. SPDR Gold Shares, a major gold-backed fund, fell 1.1% to $408.81, while Agnico Eagle slid 2.9% and Gold Fields dropped 5.9%.
Spot gold — the cash price for immediate delivery — was down about 1% at $4,452.97 an ounce after briefly touching a more than one-week high earlier in the session. “The main trend remains supportive, but in the short term, some investors are taking profit,” said Carlo Alberto De Casa, an external analyst at Swissquote, pointing to a slightly firmer dollar; bullion hit a record $4,549.71 on Dec. 26. 1
The pullback followed a sharp move higher a day earlier, when gold rose 0.8% as safe-haven demand picked up after the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, pushing prices toward the record. “Precious metals traders see more risk on the horizon than stock and bond traders do at present,” Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals, said, as gold capped a 64.4% rise in 2025. 2
Fresh U.S. labor data kept rates in the foreground on Wednesday, and that matters for gold because it pays no interest. Private payrolls rose 41,000 in December, below the 47,000 gain forecast by economists polled by Reuters, and Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, called the pace “relatively slow,” even as other economists cautioned that ADP’s track record can diverge sharply from government data. 3
Some banks still see gold pushing higher after last year’s run. Morgan Stanley said in a note dated Jan. 5 that it expects gold to hit $4,800 an ounce by the fourth quarter, citing falling interest rates and buying by central banks and funds. 4
For miners, the next hard check is whether higher prices translate into cash flow once costs are tallied. Newmont is estimated to report earnings on Feb. 19, according to Nasdaq’s earnings calendar. 5
Miners also tend to swing more than the metal because their margins move with gold, but also with diesel, labor and local currencies. That leverage cuts both ways on days like this, when bullion drifts lower and the dollar firms.
But the downside case is simple: if U.S. data run hot, yields and the dollar can rise, squeezing bullion and the stocks tied to it. A softer print could do the opposite, reviving rate-cut bets and pulling buyers back into gold.
The next catalyst is the U.S. Employment Situation report for December at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday, followed by the U.S. consumer price index on Tuesday. Both can reset expectations for Fed moves — and the gold price that drives the trade in gold stocks. 6
