BOTH GOLD and SILVER prices made a record Friday finish in London on Friday while global stock markets also rebounded near this week's new all-time highs amid worsening protests against the Islamic regime in Iran and continued uproar in the USA over the killing of an unarmed US woman by an ICE immigration officer.

Global hub for bullion trading and storage, London saw gold and silver vault holdings rise to 3-year highs last month on data from trade association the LBMA.

The world's largest commercial stockpiles of bullion have more than recovered the record London gold outflows made early last year as US importers rushed to stockpile gold and silver for fear of President Trump imposing trade tariffs on precious metals.

With the US Supreme Court due to start ruling today on whether President Trump's wider trade tariffs are illegal − potentially forcing $150 billion in refunds to goods importers − a surge in gold and other precious metals exports during October saw the USA report its smallest trade deficit with the rest of the world since 2009.

That puts end-2025 economic growth at an annualized pace of 5.4% according to the Atlanta Fed's closely-watched GDPNow model.

But new data today said that US employment was little changed in December, keeping the jobless rate near a post-pandemic high of 4.4%.

Over the 12 months since Trump returned to the White House, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that non-farm payrolls grew by 584,000. That's the lowest figure since 2003 outside of the financial crisis and Covid recessions.

"Trump should know that world tyrants such as Pharaoh, Nimrod, Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza were brought down at the peak of their arrogance," said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Friday, blaming the US President for encouraging nationwide protests against his regime.

"We're seeing Russian cargo aircraft coming and landing in Tehran, presumably carrying weapons and ammunition, and we're hearing reports of large amounts of gold leaving Iran," claimed UK lawmaker and former Security Minister Tom Tugendhat on Thursday, without identifying the reports he referred to.

Over the past 5 years, household gold demand in Iran has made it the world's 7th largest gold consumer nation according to data from specialist analysts Metals Focus compiled for the mining industry's World Gold Council.

The collapse of the Rial has meantime sent the domestic price of gold surging 32-fold. Gold bars and coins have gone from 50% of Iran's consumer demand to 63%.

"Gold and silver under scrutiny as index changes spark wave of bullion sales," claims a headline at the Financial Times today, reporting how major commodity indices BCOM and the S&P GSCI cap the percentage weighting for gold and silver, forcing a rebalancing this week after 2025's price surges.

But London gold today rose $140 above last Friday's 3pm auction price, fixing at a fresh all-time record above $4490 per Troy ounce before moving through $4500 in spot market trade.

Spot silver prices meantime traded back at $80 per ounce after the more industrially-useful precious metal set a London midday fix above $78 for the 3rd time this week, trading more than 60% higher from just 2 months ago.

London silver holdings rose to a 40-month high in December on the LBMA's data, but net growth of 637 tonnes was outrun by 818-tonne net demand to back the giant iShares Silver Trust ETF (NYSEArca: SLV).

Interest rates to borrow silver bullion in London continued to ease Friday, dropping to 3.3% annualized on 1-month lease deals.

But silver liquidity remained tight in Asia, with retail dealers in Singapore saying stock orders booked in December are now due for delivery in March, while Chinese prices in Shanghai today rose to a premium of $10 per ounce above London before accounting for the giant bullion consumer nation's import tax.

Led by growth at commercial banks and logistics providers, total holdings of Good Delivery gold bars in London jumped 2.2% in December − the steepest month-on-month rise in more than 5 years − to reach 9,106 tonnes, the largest amount since November 2022.

Within that figure, the quantity of gold held at the Bank of England − primarily for foreign central banks, and including Venezuelan gold frozen by US-EU sanctions for almost a decade − rose to a 3-month high, smaller by 3.5% from December 2024.

With the government of Venezuela now releasing political prisoners after pressure from the US following President Maduro's rendition to a New York court, US forces today seized a 5th oil tanker related to the Latin American producer state, telling journalists that "There is no safe haven for criminals."

Neighboring Colombia's President Petro says he fears a "real threat" of US military action after Trump accused him, like Maduro, of smuggling cocaine into the USA.

"We must be ready for a direct confrontation with Trump," said an un-named European diplomat to Politico this week after the US President again said he take over Danish-owned Greenland, part of making the Western hemisphere "our hemisphere" of control.