Gold slides over 4% as investors booked profits after record high, silver down to $106: Report

Gold slid more than 4% on Thursday as investors booked profits after prices hit a record high, though the metal remained on track for its strongest monthly performance since the 1980s amid elevated economic and geopolitical uncertainty, Reuters reported. Spot gold was down 4.6% at $5,149.99 an ounce by 10:48 a.m. ET (1548 GMT), after earlier touching an all-time peak of $5,594.82. US gold futures for February delivery fell 2.8% to $5,156.20.

“We are seeing a sharp sell-off after precious metals posted fresh all-time highs,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.

Despite the pullback, spot gold is still up about 19% for the month and 3.6% so far this week.

Silver dipped 3% to hover near $106 on Thursday after topping $120 per ounce as a slump in major US AI and technology stocks rattled markets, led by a sharp crash in Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), according to reports.

The world’s largest software company wiped out nearly a quarter-trillion dollars in market capitalisation at the New York open, sliding 11.9% after its quarterly results pointed to a slowdown in Azure cloud computing and AI-related data services. Investors were unnerved by higher-than-expected capital expenditure and decelerating cloud revenue growth.

The shock rippled across equities, dragging the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) down more than 2% amid the Microsoft-led selloff.

Gold, which had peaked on Thursday just $5 per ounce below $5,600, saw its subsequent 8.7% drop erase an estimated $3.4 trillion from the value of all above-ground gold.

Silver, meanwhile, had surged above $121 per troy ounce, up more than 68% in January, marking its strongest monthly gain outside December 1979, before sliding back to around $106. The retreat came as AI-linked stocks weakened further, with Oracle falling 5.4% and Nvidia down 2.7% at the open, stoking fears that the AI rally may be overextended.

Gold is up more than 27% so far this year after surging 64% in 2025, while silver has gained over 60% year-to-date, driven by strong safe-haven demand, steady central bank buying and a weaker US dollar.