Five Moves Are Quietly Rebuilding Gold’s Entire Market Structure - GoldSilver

AI desk brief

ICE has launched physically settled gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures in London, a notable market-structure development tied to the LBMA Gold Price and intended to give the city an exchange-traded alternative in a market that still clears over $190bn of private physical gold daily and holds about $1.4tn in bullion. The article argues this, alongside Hong Kong’s expanding role as a yuan/gold vaulting and delivery hub, points to institutions quietly rebuilding how gold trades and settles.

On price outlook, Natixis sketched a wide 2026 range for gold: around $4,100 in a Fed-holds base case, $3,500 in a bearish escalation scenario, and above $5,250 if inflation cools enough to force a Fed pivot. StoneX was also constructive, saying a break above $4,400 could open $4,700 and then $5,000, while HSBC’s James Steel said gold’s old link to oil has largely broken down, with the correlation now near 0.15 and the metal responding more through yields and the dollar than through energy prices directly.