PRECIOUS-Gold and silver hit record highs as Greenland dispute spurs safe-haven buying

Updates prices

By Pablo Sinha

Jan 19 (Reuters) – Gold and silver hit record highs on Monday, driven by a flight to safety after U.S. President Donald Trump warned of extra tariffs on some European countries in a dispute over Greenland.

Spot gold XAU= jumped 1.6% to $4,669.69 an ounce by 10:08 a.m. ET (1508 GMT), after scaling a record peak of $4,689.39.

U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for February delivery advanced 1.7% to $4,675 an ounce.

Trump threatened several European allies with a series of escalating tariffs on Saturday unless the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland, intensifying a dispute over Denmark’s vast Arctic island.

“When institutional and policy risks resurface, markets tend to react swiftly by reallocating toward safe-haven assets, with gold once again emerging as the preferred choice,” said Linh Tran, senior market analyst at XS.com.

Stock markets and the dollar fell as Trump’s latest tariff threats raised investors’ appetite for safe-haven gold, the Japanese yen and Swiss franc in a broad risk-averse move across markets. MKTS/GLOB USD/

Gold tends to do well during times of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, as well as when interest rates are low. It gained more than 64% in 2025 and is up more than 8% since the start of this year.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said on Friday that a fragile job market with the potential to weaken quickly means the U.S. central bank should stand ready to cut interest rates again if needed.

Markets expect the Fed to leave rates on hold at its meeting over January 27-28 but are pricing in at least two cuts of 25 basis points this year. FEDWATCH

Elsewhere, spot silver XAG= climbed 4.4% to $93.93 an ounce after hitting a record high of $94.10. Silver has risen more than 31% since the start of the year.

Analysts at Citi Research said they remain tactically bullish on precious metals, setting price targets of $5,000 an ounce for gold and $100 an ounce for silver in the next three months, citing geopolitical tensions that are likely to stay elevated in the near term.

In other metals, spot platinum XPT= added 2% to $2,374.85 an ounce while palladium XPD= rose 1.2% to $1,820.50.

(Reporting by Pablo Sinha in Bengaluru
Additional reporting by Sarah Qureshi
Editing by Alexander Smith and David Goodman)

((Pablo.Sinha@thomsonreuters.com;))