Prices for gold and silver both went back up to $5,000 an ounce on Wednesday. This was after a 6.8% drop earlier in the week, which was caused by rising oil prices after “tough” ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine ended early and “progress” was made in US talks with Iran but no deal.
Tomorrow, Russia and Iran will hold a naval exercise together in the Gulf of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean. The goal is to “strengthen coordination” between their troops.
In the meantime, US President Donald Trump will hold the first meeting of his so-called “Board of Peace” challenger to the UN in Washington, D.C. They will talk about rebuilding Gaza with people from most Middle Eastern countries, like Israel and Saudi Arabia, but not from major Asian powers. Only Bulgaria, Hungary, and Kosovo will be there from Europe.Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed on Tuesday that Iran should never be able to make a nuclear weapon. They also stressed the need for “close cooperation among allies and partners to enhance regional security.”
Today, aerospace and defence stocks went up in both Europe and New York. This happened while Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met with Cuba’s “friendly and brotherly” foreign minister. Trump called Cuba a “failed state,” and the Communist Caribbean island’s energy crisis is getting worse since the US captured oil-rich Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro this New Year.
Today, the price of crude oil rose above $69 per barrel of European standard Brent. This is a rise of almost 15% from its near 5-year low in late 2025.
Even though gold gained back the $5,000 per Troy ounce mark, the price of bullion in terms of crude oil fell by one barrel from January’s record high of 73.5 barrels per month.
In Europe, natural gas prices kept going down on Wednesday. So far in February, March TTF contracts have been selling almost 1/4 lower than they were in January.Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, says that Europe’s natural gas stocks have dropped below one-third of their storage capacity. It warns its former customers that “gas is currently being drawn from reserves accumulated in previous years.”
But the big Russian energy company reported its worst-ever corporate loss last year, even though it supplied 40% of Europe’s natural gas before the Kremlin’s full-on attack on Ukraine 4 years ago next week. Since then, exports to Europe have dropped to their lowest level since 1973.As winter comes to an end, global natural gas prices are staying low because of a steady flow of LNG to Europe and very little demand in Asia, according to LNG news site Natural Gas Intelligence.Long gold” is now the investment world’s “most crowded trade” according to a series record 50% of respondents to Bank of America’s global fund manager survey for February.
On average, though, the people who answered the BofA survey thought gold prices would peak at $6,200. One-fifth of fund managers thought they would reach $7000, which is the same number of people who think gold prices have already peaked.
In terms of value in the US dollar, both gold and the stock markets of the rich world today traded at new all-time highs for this time last month. However, gold is down 11.0% from its record high at the end of January, and the MSCI World Index is 1.8% below its high point in early February.
Today, the price of silver shot back above $77 an ounce, a rise of more than $5 from yesterday’s two-week lows. Yesterday’s lows were hit while China, the world’s biggest consumer of silver, was closed for the Lunar New Year of the Horse holiday.
