Gold Prices Climb in Asia as Rate-Cut Hopes Strengthen and CME Outage Hits Trading

Gold prices advanced in Asian trading on Friday and were on track to secure a fourth consecutive month of gains in November, supported by growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates next month. Spot gold rose 0.6% to $4,183.01 an ounce by 01:21 ET (05:21 GMT), extending a strong rally driven by increased safe-haven demand and shifting monetary policy sentiment.

Although bullion briefly dipped in the previous session, investors quickly returned to gold as confidence strengthened around a potential rate cut at the Fed’s December 9–10 meeting. According to CME FedWatch, traders are now pricing in an 82.8% probability of a 25-basis-point cut—up dramatically from just 28.5% a week earlier. Dovish comments from Fed officials combined with soft U.S. economic data have amplified expectations for easing, further boosting gold’s appeal.

Gold has gained 4.6% so far in November and is up nearly 3% this week alone. The broader metals market also benefited from a weaker U.S. dollar. Platinum surged 2.4% to $1,643.04 per ounce, while silver jumped 1.3% to $54.0905 per ounce, putting it back near record highs. Both metals recorded strong monthly performances, rising 4.5% and 11.3%, respectively.

However, trading activity across commodities was disrupted on Friday due to an outage at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. A cooling issue at CyrusOne data centers halted futures trading for gold, platinum, copper, and silver, with the last recorded trades showing at 00:00 ET (05:00 GMT). The outage added to already slow market volumes following the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

Despite the temporary disruption, sentiment in the precious metals market remains upbeat as investors position themselves for potential monetary easing and continue to seek safe-haven assets amid lingering geopolitical tensions.