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June 29, 2025

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It was a week of downward momentum for the gold price.

The yellow metal neared the US$3,400 per ounce level on Monday (June 23) as investors reacted to the weekend’s escalation in tensions in the Middle East, but sank to just above US$3,300 the next day.

The decline came as US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire. While the ceasefire has not gone entirely smoothly, with Trump expressing displeasure about violations, the news appeared to calm investors.

Gold’s safe-haven appeal took another hit toward the end of the week, when Trump said late on Thursday (June 26) that the US had signed a trade deal with China. Although details remain scarce — China’s commerce ministry confirmed the arrangement, but said little else — the gold price dropped on the news, closing Friday (June 27) at about US$3,274.

It was a different story for other precious metals this week.

Silver enjoyed an uptick, rising as high as US$36.79 per ounce before pulling back to the US$36 level. Whether it can continue breaking higher remains to be seen, but many experts are optimistic.

In fact, Randy Smallwood of Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX:WPM,NYSE:WPM) said that right now he’s perhaps more excited about silver than he is about gold. Here’s how he explained it:

There’s not a lot of new production coming on stream, just because most silver comes as a by-product from lead, zinc and copper mines — more than half of silver. And we’re just not seeing the investment into the base metals space that we need to sustain that production and grow that production.

As excited as I am about gold, I think silver’s got a few more fundamentals behind it that make it a pretty exciting time to be watching silver … silver’s got some catching up to do with respect to what gold’s done over the last few years.’

Watch the full interview with Smallwood for more on silver, as well as gold and platinum.

Speaking of platinum, it was also on the move this week, rising above US$1,400 per ounce.

The move has turned heads — despite a persistent supply deficit, platinum has spent years trading in a fairly tight range, and it hasn’t crossed US$1,400 since 2014.

Recent trends supporting platinum’s move include a shift toward platinum jewelry due to the high cost of gold, as well as larger platinum imports to the US earlier this year when tariff uncertainty was heating up. At the same time, miners have faced challenges.

‘This has led to tight forward market conditions,’ said Jonathan Butler of Mitsubishi (TSE:8058), ‘with a deep backwardation across the curve.’ In his view, these conditions will continue providing support for the precious metal in the coming weeks.

Bullet briefing — Gold repatriation, Rule Symposium

Germany, Italy to repatriate gold?

Germany and Italy are facing calls to bring home gold stored in the US.

According to the Financial Times, politicians and economists in the two countries are pushing for repatriation as a result of global geopolitical uncertainty, as well as concerns about Trump’s potential influence on the Federal Reserve as he continues to criticize Chair Jerome Powell.

‘We are very concerned about Trump tampering with the Federal Reserve Bank’s independence. Our recommendation is to bring the (German and Italian) gold home to ensure European central banks have unlimited control over it at any given point in time’ — Michael Jäger, Taxpayers Association of Europe

The news outlet calculates that German and Italian gold held in the US has a total value of about US$245 billion. Market participants agree that it would be a blow to relations with America if the countries were to bring their gold home at this time.

At least for now they seem unlikely to do so — although Italy’s central bank hasn’t commented, Germany’s Bundesbank said it sees the New York Fed as ‘trustworthy and reliable.’

Send your questions for the Rule Symposium

The Rule Symposium runs in Boca Raton, Florida, from July 7 to 11, and I’ll be heading there to interview Rick Rule, as well as Adrian Day, Lobo Tiggre, Andy Schectman, Dr. Nomi Prins and more.

Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Israel’s attack on Evin Prison in the Iranian capital of Tehran on Monday killed 71 people, according to Mizan, the news outlet of the Iranian judiciary.

“The martyrs include prison administrative staff, conscripted soldiers, inmates, family members of prisoners who were at the prison for visits or legal follow-ups, and neighbors living near the prison,” judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said in remarks published on Sunday.

The state-affiliated news agency Fars reported that “much damage” had been recorded in the surrounding area.

The Israeli military attacked the entrance of Iran’s notorious Evin Prison on Monday, according to Israel’s defense minister and Iranian state news.

Security forces at the Evin detention center are known for their long record of human rights abuses, according to regime critics. Political activists, journalists and musicians are among those who have been incarcerated at the facility.

It is unclear why Israel targeted the facility. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed in a statement that Evin had been targeted, alongside several other sites, including the flagship building of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij headquarters (a paramilitary wing of the IRGC), without providing any further details.

France’s foreign minister condemned the strike on the prison, which was housing two French nationals.

“The strike aimed at Evin Prison in Tehran put in danger two of our nationals, Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, hostages for the past three years. It’s unacceptable,” Jean-Noël Barrot said in a post on X following the attack.

The couple were on holiday in Iran in May 2022 when they were stopped by authorities and arrested on suspicion of espionage. In October that year, Iranian state television broadcast a forced confession from the pair, during which Kohler said she was an agent working for France’s intelligence services, the DGES.

A ceasefire between Iran and Israel was announced late on Monday, after 12 days of back and forth strikes that started when Israel attacked Iran earlier this month.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

British police say they are reviewing comments made on stage by rap punk duo Bob Vylan and hip hop trio Kneecap at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.

Rapper Bobby Vylan took to the festival’s third-biggest West Holts Stage on Saturday shouting “Free, free Palestine,” before leading crowds to chants against the Israeli military.

Video showed the rapper shouting into the mic, “Alright, but have you heard this one though? Death, death to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces).”

The artist also performed in front of a screen that displayed a message which read: “United Nations have called it a genocide. The BBC calls it a ‘conflict,’” referring to the UK’s public broadcaster that has been showing the festival live.

The Israeli Embassy in the UK said it was “deeply disturbed” by what it called “inflammatory and hateful” rhetoric at the festival.

It said that when chants such as “Death to the IDF” are said in front of tens of thousands of festivalgoers, “it raises serious concerns about the normalisation of extremist language and the glorification of violence.”

“We call on Glastonbury Festival organisers, artists, and public leaders in the UK to denounce this rhetoric and reject of all forms of hatred,” it added.

Glastonbury Festival said in a statement that was “appalled” by Vylan’s remarks.

“Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence,” organizers said.

Ahead of the five-day music festival, all eyes were on Irish-language hip hop trio Kneecap after band member Liam O’Hanna – who performs under the state name Mo Chara – was charged last month with a terrorism offense following an investigation by London’s Metropolitan Police.

The charge, which he has denied, relates to a London gig in November 2024 where he allegedly displayed a flag of Hezbollah – a proscribed terrorist organization banned under UK law. Ahead of the festival at Worthy Farm, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he did not think it was “not appropriate” for the group to perform.

Kneecap have been vocal critics of Israel’s war in Gaza but have previously said it has never supported Hamas or Hezbollah.

During the set, Mo Chara told the crowds that recent events had been “stressful” but that it was nothing in comparison to “what the Palestinian people are going through.”

Kneecap rapper Naoise O Caireallain, who goes by the stage name Móglaí Bap, hit back at Starmer’s comment during Saturday’s set: “The Prime Minister of your country, not mine, said he didn’t want us to play, so f**k Keir Starmer.”

In reference to his bandmate’s forthcoming court date, O Caireallain also said they would “start a riot outside the courts,” before adding: “I don’t want anybody to start a riot. No riots just love and support, and more importantly support for Palestine.”

Police in Somerset, where the festival is held, said the force was “aware of the comments made by acts” and that “video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.”

UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting slammed the performance as “appalling” in an interview with Sky News on Sunday morning.

He said that the BBC, which broadcast the set live, and Glastonbury “have got questions to answer.”

A BBC spokesperson said that some of the comments made during Vylan’s performance were “deeply offensive,” and added it had no plans to make the performance available on demand through its iPlayer streaming platform.

This post appeared first on cnn.com