As its record-setting year continues, gold is on its way to posting its strongest annual performance since 1979, up an impressive 58 percent year-to-date as of Wednesday (November 12).
The yellow metal once again broke past US$4,200 per ounce this week, moving closer to its all-time high of US$4,379.13, reached on October 17. Silver is up 80 percent year-to-date and also on track for its best year ever.
The silver spot price rose on Thursday (November 13) morning to just a few cents shy of its record price of US$54.47 per ounce. Silver futures hit a new record high of US$54.415 per ounce in early morning trading.
Gold rallied this week even amid news that the longest US government shutdown in history was coming to an end — typically the sort of development that would lessen demand for safe-haven assets. Yet continued labor market weakness in the US is priming expectations of further Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in December.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, explained that gold is gaining on investor sentiment.
What does it mean to say that gold is acting like a meme stock? Basically, it implies that the gold market is displaying unusual trading dynamics with investment demand at times seemingly more momentum-driven than data-driven.
Gold and silver’s surge may be reflective of the good precious metals vibes investors are now feeling. Social media is buzzing with posts like “GOLD to $5,000!” and trending hashtags like #GoldRush2025 and #SilverSqueeze2.
Gold exchange-traded funds in particular are very popular with retail investors. Sherwood News reported on Tuesday (November 11) that daily call volumes for the SPDR Gold Trust (ARCA:GLD), which is backed by physical gold, had outstripped 1 million by 1:10 p.m. EST, ‘roughly triple their 334,000 average over the last 10 full sessions.’
While the speed and size of the price gains in gold and silver point to a highly sentiment-driven acceleration, this momentum doesn’t discount the strong fundamentals for gold and silver.
Yes, we’re likely to see price pullbacks, but the overall upward momentum is still supported by macro forces such as economic uncertainty, Fed independence concerns, geopolitical risks and in the case of silver, supply worries.
Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.