NEW YORK, December 29, 2025, 10:28 ET
- Silver slid more than 5% after touching a record $83.62 an ounce, reversing a sharp year-end surge.
- Gold, platinum and palladium also fell as investors trimmed haven trades ahead of Fed minutes due Tuesday.
- U.S. stocks opened lower, with materials and precious-metal miners pressured as the metals rally cooled.
Silver tumbled from a fresh record high above $80 an ounce on Monday as investors locked in gains heading into the final days of 2025.
The move matters now because precious metals have been among the year’s biggest winners, and the abrupt pullback underscores how quickly crowded trades can unwind in thin, holiday-affected markets.
Traders are recalibrating positions ahead of the Federal Reserve’s December meeting minutes and amid shifting headlines on Ukraine, both of which have recently shaped demand for haven assets and broader risk appetite.
Spot silver, the cash price for immediate delivery, was down 5.1% at $75.15 an ounce after touching a record $83.62 earlier in the session.
Spot gold slid 1.7% to $4,455.35 an ounce after hitting a record $4,549.71 on Friday.
U.S. gold futures for February delivery fell 1.7% to $4,474.80.
Platinum fell 6.9% to $2,281.15 after touching a record $2,478.50, while palladium dropped 11.9% to $1,694.75.
“This morning’s (gold) price decline, which follows record highs, is attributable mainly to traders taking profits ahead of the year-end,” said ActivTrades analyst Ricardo Evangelista. Reuters
Evangelista said improving expectations around Ukraine peace talks were also a mild headwind for haven demand.
Kitco News analyst Jim Wyckoff also flagged heavy profit-taking and long liquidation by short-term futures traders — selling positions that had bet on higher prices — as the session developed.
Trump said on Sunday that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were close to an agreement to end the war, a shift in tone that traders read as easing geopolitical risk.
Investors are also watching Tuesday’s release of the Fed’s December meeting minutes for clues on the interest-rate outlook. Traders are pricing in two rate cuts next year; lower rates typically support metals because they do not pay interest.
Bullion has risen about 72% this year, driven by softer U.S. monetary policy, a weaker dollar, geopolitical friction and central bank purchases, the report said. Silver has gained 181% so far in 2025, helped by supply shortages and stronger industrial and investor demand.
The pullback bled into equities. At 9:35 a.m. ET, the Dow was down 0.14%, the S&P 500 fell 0.32% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.61%.
Materials stocks slipped as precious-metal miners retreated, while investors assessed whether stocks could still notch a Santa Claus rally — the tendency for the S&P 500 to rise in the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January. U.S. markets are closed Thursday for New Year’s Day, keeping focus on light year-end volumes.
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