GOLD BULLION hit 3-week highs in London on Tuesday, trading 3.4% above the weekend's level before dropping back through $4100 as major banks continued hiking their 2026 price forecasts and Bloomberg announced that crypto-token platform Tether has hired senior traders from London and global bullion giant HSBC.

"We remain bullish on gold," says Swiss bank and London bullion clearers UBS, calling the precious metal "an effective portfolio diversifier and hedge" and repeating the bank's 12-month price forecast of $4200 with potential for a pop $500 above that on "any significant rise in political and financial market risks."

Major financial brands Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Société Générale now predict a gold price of $5000 for 2026, while the private bank division of US financial giant J.P.Morgan forecasts a high of $5200 or $5300 by the end of 2026.

Goldman Sachs came into 2025 predicting that gold would reach $3000 by the end of this year − "one of the more bullish" gold price forecasts according to the Financial Times in January − while J.P.Morgan Private Bank predicted $3150.

Gold prices today touched $4148 per Troy ounce before falling $50 as New York's Nasdaq Index of tech stocks opened the day 0.6% lower.

"Tether Hires Top HSBC Gold Traders to Take on Bullion Market," says Bloomberg meantime, a fortnight after saying "J.P.Morgan's Grip on London Gold Vaults Challenged by Rival Banks" above a story claiming that Citigroup and Morgan Stanley "are seeking" to build and offer vaulting services in London − global bullion's trading and storage hub − while also hoping to become clearing members of the London market.

Never yet audited but attesting to $12.9 billion of corporate gold holdings at end-September − plus $9.9bn in Bitcoin and "approximately $135bn exposure to US Treasuries, direct and indirect" − Tether launched 'Tether Gold Tokens' under the laws of El Salvador four years ago.

Separate from its Dollar-tracking stablecoin but similarly using the Ethereum blockchain, Tether Gold (XAUt) now has a market cap of $1.5 billion if not $2.1bn, with 24-hour trading volume reportedly 6 times larger again.

"While we all know that past performance does not guarantee future results," says a new note from $2.2 trillion asset managers Pimco, "we expect the secular forces of recent years to persist, underpinning commodity returns for years to come."

"Political uncertainty should continue to support gold," says Switzerland's UBS, adding that "Elevated global government debt boosts demand for gold [while] the Federal Reserve’s easing path and US Dollar weakness are also supportive."

Société Générale, France's third largest bank, this year joined Germany's Deutsche Bank and Japanese trading house Mitsui − who both exited precious metals during gold's post-financial crisis bear market a decade ago − in returning to bullion trading after quitting in 2019.

Silver prices meantime lost 75 cents on Tuesday from its own sudden 3-week high near $51.25 per Troy ounce, while fellow industrial precious metals platinum and palladium dropped from their highest in a week at $1600 and $1450 respectively.

UK unemployment rose to 5.0% on today's figures for September − the worst since Christmas 2020's Covid lockdowns − while business sentiment in world No.3 economy Germany defied analyst forecasts to fall on the latest ZEW survey.

Tether's hires from HSBC include Mathew O'Neill, who worked at the bank since graduating in 2008, and Vincent Domien, still currently listed as a member of the board of trade body the London Bullion Market Association.

This year's steep gold and silver gains, plus the precious metals' price volatility has also attracted energy trading houses including Trafigura and Gunvor.