Gold jumps 1.3% as oil drops 5% on US-Iran pause
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- Gold rose 1.3% to $4,103.99 per ounce by 0058 GMT, while U.S. gold futures for August delivery gained 0.9% to $4,106.10 after a pause in Middle East hostilities pushed oil lower.
- Iran will halt its own attacks as long as the United States does the same, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday.
- The United States pressed pause on its bombing campaign after President Donald Trump's advisers told him they were running out of targets and expressed worries about depleting the U.S. arsenal.
- Oil prices tumbled 5% as investors hoped for a diplomatic solution to de-escalate the conflict, easing concerns about inflation and prolonged high interest rates.
- The U.S. dollar and yields on the 10-year Treasury note fell, further supporting gold, while the Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep rates unchanged this week with traders pricing in about an 80% chance of a September hike per the CME FedWatch Tool.
- COMEX gold speculators raised net long positions by 4,438 contracts to 123,586 in the week to July 21, per CFTC data.
- Spot silver rose 2.7% to $59.74 per ounce, platinum climbed 2% to $1,619.75, and palladium jumped 2.3% to $1,271.93.
Why it matters: The U.S. bombing pause wasn't just diplomatic — Trump's own advisers flagged that the military was running out of targets and the U.S. arsenal was being depleted, exposing a resource constraint behind the de-escalation. With oil down 5% and gold rallying over 1%, markets are pricing in relief, but the underlying trigger is a ceiling on American strike capacity, not a negotiated settlement.
