The PRICE OF GOLD tried on Thursday to recover and hold above $4000 per ounce for the 6th time this week, cutting October's month-to-date gain to 4.0% in Dollar terms after Presidents Trump and Xi struck a truce in the US-China trade war and the giant GLD bullion-backed ETF saw record-heavy investment outflows.

"FOMO was rife," says the mining industry's World Gold Council of gold's previous rush towards $4400 per Troy ounce, referring to the 'fear of missing out' in its latest demand analysis, "particularly during September as the gold price rally really took off.

"This added to the already strong safe haven flows driven by global geopolitical concerns."

Last night, in contrast, gold again pulled back from $4000 and dipped as low as $3915 per ounce after US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell − having just cut Dollar interest rates as universally expected at October's meeting − told reporters that a further rate cut in December is far from guaranteed.

"Gold's pullback was further amplified by large ETF liquidations, including a billion-dollar outflow from the SPDR [GLD ETF]," says a trading note from Chinese bank and London bullion bank ICBC Standard, pointing to the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded trust fund.

Shrinking by 22.6 tonnes since hitting a 3-year peak of 1,058.7 tonnes at the start of last week, the quantity of metal needed to back the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEArca: GLD) hasn't recorded a  heavier bullion outflow since July 2022.

By value, and with gold prices down 6.7% over that period, the outflow equates to net liquidation of $12.7 billion, the sharpest ever 7-session drop in the GLD's net asset value since the gold ETF colossus first launched 21 years ago next month.

The prior 7 sessions had seen record NAV growth of $15.2bn.

Silver bullion meantime rallied back above $48 per Troy ounce on Thursday, taking October's Dollar-price gain back to 5.2% but holding almost $6 below the new all-time highs of $54 reached a fortnight ago.

"Silver premiums in India have fallen sharply as demand eased following the last two weeks' festive rush," says ICBC, "prompting potential buyers to delay purchases."

Some US coin shops are "refusing to buy silver" according to social media reports, with private owners saying that retailers are quoting $5 discounts and worse for buy-backs amid a sudden rush to take profit.

The rush − noted by bullion-market executives at this week's market association the LBMA's annual conference − means US silver refiners are now suddenly busy converting retail products into large, wholesale market bars, joining European counterparts in seeing the retail sector liquidate holdings.

"FOMO gold flows added to continued safe-haven buying," says the World Gold Council's new Q3 demand report, but supply set a fresh quarterly record as mine output jumped and scrap flows grew year-on-year, "albeit the recycling response seems surprisingly muted" given the price move.

"With October nearly finished," says Bloomberg analysis, "mining and metals companies across North America" − led by gold producers − "have raised $2.9 billion across 185 deals – an accelerated pace that will mark the largest monthly volume for sales of new shares by public companies in the sector since November 2013."

While Xi and Trump's meeting in South Korea ended Wednesday with no signed agreement, the US President called it an "amazing meeting...12 on a scale of one to 10" after he agreed to reduce US import tariffs on some Chinese goods in return for Beijing suspending export controls on rare earths needed by US chip and tech manufacturers.

Ahead of Jerome 'Too Late' Powell standing down from the US central bank next spring, and with White House advisor Stephen Miran already on the FOMC policy committee, Trump also told reporters yesterday that "We're not going to have a Fed that's going to raise interest rates because they're worried about inflation in three years from now."