Gold and silver crash to lowest prices in a year

It is a massacre on the financial markets and precious metals are also hit hard. Gold and silver take a hard hit with losses of several percent. The ‘safe havens’ are now at their lowest levels since November last year. What's going on?

The gold price is down 2.53 percent today and silver, which is often more volatile, has already surrendered 5.12 percent. The two assets together lost more than $700 billion in market value today.

Gold has fallen to a low of $3,915, the lowest level since October 30, 2025, exactly one year ago. Since the peak at the beginning of this year, the price has already fallen by 30 percent.

Silver has fallen to a low of $49.30. That is the lowest level since November 21 and no less than 60 percent below the January record.

Since their records, more than $15 trillion in market value has gone up in smoke. That is ten times as much as the total value of Bitcoin (BTC).

All markets today are bright red. Investors pull their money everywhere, and each market has its own reason for doing so:

• Shares:On Wall Street, there is growing doubt as to whether the billions invested in artificial intelligence (AI) will yield enough. Investors punish tech companies that put more money into AI than they bring in. The Nasdaq 100 plummeted 3 percent today, with huge losses among AI builders.
• CryptoThe crypto market is processing the biggest hack ever. At Binance, some 6.3 billion dollars in coins were looted yesterday, which is a major blow to confidence in the sector.
• Precious metals:Gold and silver fall mainly due to the growing likelihood of a US interest rate hike in December. Strong growth figures, rising inflation and expensive oil are putting pressure on the US central bank (Fed).
  Silver gets an extra hit, as research firm Metals Focus expects a surplus next year. After years of shortages, more silver comes onto the market than is used.

Moreover, all markets have been under pressure for a long time due to historically high bond yields. Due to inflation concerns, as a result of the Iran war, investors have started to charge an increasingly higher fee for lending to the government.

This puts pressure on precious metals and also Bitcoin, all of which do not pay interest themselves. It also depresses equity valuations as future earnings become less valuable. In addition, borrowing is becoming more expensive, especially now that the big tech companies are increasingly borrowing money for their AI plans.

Gold and silver are known as safe havens, but the conflict with Iran is now turning against them. It drives up energy prices, and that seems like good news for gold as a protection against inflation.

But a central bank that fights against rising prices works at a disadvantage. And Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh stressed this week that it will do everything it can to bring inflation back to the 2% target.