Gold Price Today: Gold Drops Below $4,000 to a One-Year Low as Fed Hike Bets Build

Gold had a rough Friday. The precious metal fell nearly 3% on Oct. 30, slipping below the closely watched $4,000-an-ounce mark and touching its lowest level since October 2025, according to FXStreet. The drop came even as stocks sold off, a day when gold would normally be expected to attract nervous money.

Gold price today: where it stands

Early in the Asian session, spot gold was already down 0.6% at $3,997.39 an ounce, and U.S. gold futures for December delivery were off 0.6% at $4,007.80, CNBC reported, citing Reuters. The selling picked up through the day. By the U.S. morning, spot gold (XAU/USD) was trading around $3,897, FXStreet reported, a new low for the year.

Gold was on track for a second straight monthly decline, according to CNBC. FXStreet noted that the metal has been making lower highs and lower lows since peaking near $4,700 in late August.

Other precious metals fell too. In early trading, spot silver slid 2.1% to $51.27, platinum dropped 1.9% to $1,458.85 and palladium fell 2% to $986.08, with all three headed for weekly and monthly losses, CNBC reported.

Why is the gold price falling?

The main driver is the growing expectation that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again.

• Hot inflation data. Figures released Thursday showed September’s headline Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.5% from August and 3.6% from a year earlier. The core measure rose 0.3% on the month and 3.1% on the year, FXStreet reported.
• Rate-hike bets. Traders were pricing in about a 75% chance of a December rate hike, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, as cited by both outlets. Higher rates raise the opportunity cost of holding gold, which pays no interest.
• Rising oil. Oil was heading for a fourth monthly gain on supply concerns after Yemen’s Houthis stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia, CNBC reported. FXStreet said West Texas Intermediate crude traded above $103 a barrel, its highest since May. Higher energy costs can keep inflation elevated for longer.

“There were enough bullish indicators in the US macro data this week to keep the Fed on track for a potential December hike, which combined with oil at present levels means that gold continues to lose out from an inflation perspective,” Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade, told Reuters, as quoted by CNBC.

Why didn’t gold act like a safe haven?

Friday’s tech-stock selloff, driven by worries about heavy AI spending, pushed some investors into government bonds, briefly lowering Treasury yields and the dollar. That would normally help gold. But both the dollar and yields recovered some ground, and FXStreet suggested some investors may also have sold gold to cover losses elsewhere.

Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin added to the hawkish tone Friday, saying “the AI investment surge has pressured supply chains, and that is inflationary,” according to FXStreet.

What analysts are watching next

Waterer said gold’s slide is “asking serious questions of technical support around the $4,000 level,” adding that dip buying had limited past declines but “it remains to be seen whether value buying will come to gold’s rescue.”

FXStreet flagged $3,900 as immediate support, with a possible move toward $3,800 if that breaks, and $4,000 as the first resistance level. Economists at TD Securities said they expect an additional half-percentage point of Fed tightening between now and the first quarter of 2027, according to the outlet.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice.

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