Gold Set for Fourth Straight Monthly Gain as December Fed Rate-Cut Bets Strengthen

Gold prices rose in Asian trade on Friday and were on track for a fourth consecutive month of gains in November, supported by growing confidence that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month.

Bullion briefly slipped in the previous session but quickly resumed its upward move as traders largely maintained bets on a December cut. Safe-haven demand was also underpinned by signs of fatigue in the recent equity rally, as well as ongoing geopolitical risks linked to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and diplomatic tensions between China and Japan.

Spot gold climbed 0.6% to $4,183.01 an ounce by 01:21 ET (05:21 GMT). Trading in gold and other metal futures was disrupted, however, by an outage at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange caused by a data center issue.

Gold Heads for Positive November

Spot gold was up around 4.6% in November, marking its fourth straight monthly advance. The metal had seen bouts of volatility earlier in the month as markets briefly questioned the likelihood of a December easing, but rate-cut expectations recovered strongly over the past week, fueling a sharp rally.

Gold was also on course to finish the week nearly 3% higher.

According to CME’s FedWatch tool, markets are now pricing in an 82.8% probability that the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points at its December 9–10 meeting, up from 28.5% just a week earlier. Dovish remarks from several Fed officials and a string of weaker U.S. economic data releases reinforced confidence in a near-term cut.

Weaker Dollar Lifts Broader Metals

A softer U.S. dollar this week provided additional support for precious metals.

• Spot platinum jumped 2.4% on Friday to $1,643.04/oz and was up 4.5% in November.
• Spot silver rose 1.3% to $54.0905/oz, moving back toward record highs, and was up 11.3% for the month.

CME Outage Disrupts Commodity Trading

Trading activity in several commodity futures and derivatives was disrupted on Friday due to an outage at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which also affected equity futures.

Contracts for gold, platinum, copper, and silver all showed their last trade at 00:00 ET (05:00 GMT). CME Group said the disruption was caused by a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centers and that it was working to resolve the problem.

The outage further thinned already light trading volumes following the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.