Silver breaks $80 then tumbles nearly 8% as precious-metals rally stalls

Silver breaks $80 then tumbles nearly 8% as precious-metals rally stalls

NEW YORK, December 29, 2025, 11:03 ET

  • Silver fell 7.9% after touching a record $83.62 an ounce earlier Monday.
  • Gold slid 3.6% from Friday’s record; platinum and palladium dropped double digits.
  • Investors took profits ahead of Federal Reserve minutes due Tuesday.

Silver prices slid sharply on Monday after a frenzied rally pushed the metal above $80 an ounce and to a record intraday high.

The retreat matters because silver’s surge has been one of the biggest across major commodities this year and has pulled other metals to fresh highs, before profit-taking set in.

The selloff comes as markets head into the final days of the year with holiday-thinned trading, which can exacerbate price swings.

Spot silver was down 7.9% at $72.87 per ounce by 9:57 a.m. ET, off a record $83.62 hit earlier in the session, according to a Reuters report.

Spot gold, traded for immediate delivery, fell 3.6% to $4,367.97 an ounce after hitting a record $4,549.71 on Friday.

U.S. gold futures for February delivery — contracts that lock in a price for a later date — also lost 3.6% to $4,387.40.

Platinum dropped 12% to $2,157.09 an ounce after touching a record $2,478.50 earlier in the session, while palladium plunged 15% to $1,634.04.

“All the metals moved up to recent and all-time highs. We are seeing profit-taking pullbacks off of those spectacularly high levels,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures. Reuters

Profit-taking refers to traders selling to lock in gains after a sharp run-up.

Gold has risen about 65% in 2025, while platinum and palladium are also on track for annual gains, Reuters reported.

Silver’s roughly 150% jump has been driven by its critical mineral status — a label for materials considered important to industry — along with supply shortages and rising industrial and investor demand, Reuters said.

Gold is widely viewed as a safe-haven asset in periods of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, and it tends to benefit when interest rates fall because it does not pay interest.

Traders are pricing in two U.S. rate cuts in 2026 and are watching the Fed’s December meeting minutes on Tuesday for clues on the policy path, the Reuters report said.

Geopolitics stayed in focus after President Donald Trump said on Sunday he and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy were closer to an agreement to end the war in Ukraine, and as Trump prepared to push for progress on a Gaza ceasefire when he meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Monday.

In U.S. equities, the Dow was down 0.14%, the S&P 500 was off 0.32% and the Nasdaq was down 0.61% in early trading, while materials shares slipped as precious-metal miners fell, according to a separate Reuters market report.

Trading volumes are expected to remain light in the holiday-affected week, with U.S. markets closed on Thursday for New Year’s Day.

Shan Ahmed Khan

Shan Ahmed Khan is a senior markets reporter at TS2.tech. His coverage ranges from stocks and technology to economic developments across global markets. He worked in investment research and market analysis before becoming a financial journalist and is a graduate of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

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