Silver $39 and Gold $3400 as Powell 'Should Quit to Defend the Fed'
Tuesday, 7/22/2025 16:27
SILVER and GOLD both rose in London trade Tuesday, regaining the $39 and $3400 price marks respectively as global stock markets fell together with the US Dollar amid yet more calls for Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell to quit or get fired.
"His resignation speech is coming soon," said
US Federal Housing director William Pulte on X.com, also re-tweeting President Trump's personal congratulations on an "outstanding job" apparently against "the radical left weaklings."
"If Powell wants to see [his term] through, I think he should, and if he wants to leave early I think he should," said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Fox News.
"If Chair Powell's objective is to safeguard the Fed's operational autonomy (which I deem vital), then he should resign," said economics professor and advisor to giant German insurance firm Allianz Mohamed El-Erian.
With the Dollar falling back to what was a new 3-year low last month on its DXY currency index, the silver price touched a new 14-year high at $39.21, while gold came within $75 of mid-April's
all-time $3500 gold peak.
"Trump's threat to fire Fed Chair Powell has shuddered global markets," says a note from the mining industry-backed World Gold Council.
"The logic is simple: Trump may replace Powell with someone who may cut more."
"Concerns around rising US debt [also] continue to buoy interest in gold," says precious metals analyst Suki Cooper at global bank Standard Chartered.
"Further
tariff updates are likely to keep gold in focus, and for now the floor appears well supported."
Industrial precious metals platinum and palladium also rose Tuesday but held $30 and $60 respectively below Friday's spot-market peaks of $1484 and $1336 per Troy ounce as
lease rates to borrow PGMs fell back from their recent records.
Gold today recorded only its 3rd ever London 3pm benchmark price above $3400, clearing around $3407 at the City's daily auction.
Silver prices in contrast traded around $38.80 per Troy ounce at its midday auction, having last fixed above $39 in September 2011, although it came within half-a-cent of that level on Monday last week.
"The last time silver was this high," says Jonathan Butler, precious metals head of business development & strategy at Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi, "it was on a downtrend from its all-time high of almost $50 among the Eurozone crisis, US debt ceiling and first-ever US sovereign debt downgrade.
"This time around silver is not only playing its usual role as a safe haven, but also a pro-growth industrial asset with strong prospects in AI and clean energy generation."
"China's money markets are showing signs of reflation expectations," says a note from the bullion desk at bullion bank ICBC Standard, pointing to how 5-year interest rate swaps today rose above 1-year rates for the first time in 2025 after signalling "deep deflation fears" in the world's 2nd largest economy and No.1 manufacturing nation.
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