Gold and silver bars of various sizes at the precious metals dealer Pro Aurum in Munich.
Sven Hoppe | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
Gold prices sank further on Friday, capping off their work week in 15 years as investors fretted about the economic implications of the U.S.-Iran War.
Futures tied to the yellow metal dropped 0.7% to $4,574.90 an ounce, pulling back from gains seen earlier in the morning. The metal plunged 9.6% this week, marking its biggest weekly since since September of 2011.
Spot silver
Gold is on track to notch its worst month since October 2008. But the metal is still up more than 5% in 2026, underscoring its big run before the confliction.
Friday’s declines built on a tough session for precious metals Thursday, with spot prices dropping around 3% after suffering deeper losses earlier in the day amid rising fears about the economic fallout from the Iran war.
Volatility in the oil market has been influencing global investor sentiment since the beginning of the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran. Oil prices topped $112 in Friday’s session.
U.S. stocks tumbled in Friday’s session, dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite near correction territory. President Donald Trump said Friday that didn’t want to have a ceasefire in the war with Iran.
Arthur Parish, a metals and mining equity analyst at SP Angel, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday that some of the extreme volatility in gold in recent weeks came after an extended rally in the build up to the first U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.
“That’s pretty much unwound completely and actually moved quite a lot lower,” he said. “A lot of that is momentum trades coming unwound.”
Gold and silver both enjoyed record-smashing rallies in 2025, surging 66% and 135%, respectively, over the course of the year. However, they have seen much more volatile trade in 2026, with silver futures suffering their biggest single-day blow since the 1980s at the end of January.
During the 2025 bull run on gold, Parish noted that there had been “a lot of generalists coming to the space, a lot of systematic hedge funds and a lot of retail as well.”
“That money is not wedded to long term gold positioning,” he said. “Ever since the Ukraine-Russia war and the freezing of Russian assets, you’ve seen central banks accumulate gold. I think they drove the first leg higher in this multi-year gold bull run, and then the tourists and retail investors came in to take advantage of that momentum. They’re leaving the space now, which is probably what’s needed for gold to then take another leg higher.”
Toni Meadows, head of investment at BRI Wealth Management, told CNBC that gold and silver prices are dependent on daily demand as well as “a fear mark-up.”
“I wouldn’t view it as a daily hedge to every move in risk assets,” he said. “It is driven by longer-term trends rather than short-term fear trading.”
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2026-03-20 15:13:05
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