You couldn’t describe the start of 2026 as uneventful, protest in Iran appeared to be gaining momentum over the weekend and the US DOJ instigated a criminal investigation against the Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell.

US markets are trading lower ahead of the open, with CFDs on the S&P 500 showing a – 0.54% drop as I type .

Crude oil prices are lower this morning, however I note that US Natural Gas is up by +2.95%, whilst the UK and European Gas contracts are trading up by +6.00% and +4.76% respectively. That’s part of a +9.29% and +8.36% weekly rise. Something to keep an eye on I feel.

Gold and Silver are also riding high today up by +1.65% and +4.86% respectively.
Silver is comfortably back above $80.00 a troy ounce, with concerns about Fed independence being cited as the cause.

Copper adds +2.14% it’s up +11.76% over the last month, but flat on the last week despite todays gains.

The dollar is weaker on the Foreign Exchanges and dollar index is trading at 98.8340 down by -0.31%.