Gold has been whipsawed over the past two sessions, snapping sharply lower before staging a swift rebound and then slipping again as market volatility sweeps across asset classes.
After plunging by about $100 on Thursday, the metal bounced late in the evening and climbed through Asian trade, only to meet another wave of sellers. Spot gold was trading around $4,176 early Friday in the European session.
The metal briefly touched $4,245 on Thursday before the broader risk-off mood dragged on equities, currencies and commodities. Even so, gold remains on course for its first weekly gain in four, provided price swings later today do not erase recent gains. The return above the $4,000 level earlier in the week helped lift sentiment across the wider precious metals space.
This week’s end to the 43-day US government shutdown removes a major political overhang, but it has created a fresh problem for markets. The government is only now preparing to restart its data pipeline, and officials signalled on Thursday that key inflation and labour reports for October may never be released.
That leaves investors bracing for a potentially weaker run of figures for November and December. The shutdown is expected to have distorted everything from hiring to consumer spending, and the absence of hard numbers keeps traders guessing about the economy’s true direction.
The Federal Reserve is now heading into its December meeting with far less clarity than usual. Rate-cut odds have swung sharply, with markets now assigning a 45.4% chance of a 25-basis-point cut, down from more than 64% last week, according to CME FedWatch. Expectations for no change have climbed to 54.6%.
The latest turbulence comes amid a broader rotation across markets. Investors have been pulling back from overstretched AI-linked names, triggering heavy moves in equities, crypto and commodities. With safe havens in short supply, gold is being pulled into the wider volatility rather than benefiting from it
