Gold Falls Nearly 3% Toward $4,020 and Silver Slides 4% After Hotter October CPI Lifts Fed Hike Bets

Gold and silver fell sharply on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, erasing Monday's gains after a hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation report and hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller lifted expectations for a December interest-rate increase.

Spot gold was bid at $4,020.60 an ounce at 11:45 a.m. ET, down $118.80, or 2.87%, on the day, according to Kitco. The metal traded in a range of $4,018.20 to $4,147.40 during the session, meaning it was near its daily low at midday. At about 11:47 a.m. ET, Kitco's precious metals quotes showed silver down $2.14, or about 4%, at roughly $51.29 an ounce, after a high of $53.84. Platinum was down about 2.8% near $1,534, and palladium was off about 1.6% near $1,026.

Inflation report drives selling

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the consumer price index rose 0.4% in October, after a 0.6% increase in September and above the 0.3% gain economists expected, Kitco News reported. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, rose 0.3%, matching September's increase but above a 0.2% consensus. The BLS did not publish 12-month figures because it did not collect October 2025 survey data during last year's government shutdown. September's annual headline rate was 3.7%, with core at 2.6%, according to Kitco.

The report showed shelter costs rose 0.3% and accounted for more than 30% of the monthly headline increase, while the energy index rose 0.7% and food rose 0.5%.

Gold was already under pressure before the data. Speaking at the Bank of England Watchers Conference in London, Waller said: "I believe a 50-basis-point hike in the policy rate should be considered at the December meeting. Hiking only 25 basis points would put our credibility at risk, a risk I am not eager to take," Kitco reported. Waller said he was leaning toward at least a quarter-point increase.

Waleed Said, technical analyst at GivTrade, told Kitco that "the core message is that inflation remains elevated and is not coming back to target on its own." Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management, said in a note cited by Kitco that he expects a quarter-point move in December but that the data puts a January rate hike on the table.

Gold does not pay interest, and expectations of higher rates tend to weigh on the metal by raising the opportunity cost of holding it. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to about 5.00% after the data, up from 4.90% at Monday's close, Investopedia reported, and the dollar index rose 0.51% to 102.20, according to Reuters. Markets were pricing in an 89% chance of a December hike based on CME FedWatch, Reuters said.

A volatile week

The decline extends a run of large swings. BullionVault reported that gold's drop to about $4,033 shortly after the CPI release marked its fourth day of near-$100 swings in the past five sessions, and that silver traded back below $52, a level that had been an 11-month low when reached at the end of October. Nicky Shiels, precious metals strategist at MKS Pamp, said that "rallies keep getting sold as US data, inflation & war risks keep the Fed (and ECB) on a hiking path," BullionVault reported.

Earlier in the day, before the inflation data, spot gold had been down 0.55% at $4,117.79 and was still 4.79% higher on a weekly basis, while silver was down 1.04% at $52.84, Anadolu Agency reported as of 0820 GMT.

Precious metals dealer USAGOLD reported that silver was falling faster than gold, widening the gold-to-silver ratio to about 78 from roughly 77.5 at the open. It noted that gold remains about 26% below its January 29 LBMA record of $5,501.70, while silver is about 56% below its all-time high of $118.45.

Platinum and palladium

The platinum-group metals also retreated but, earlier in the London session, had held up better than gold and silver. BullionVault said platinum was down 2.4% from a three-week high of $1,587 an ounce reached in Asian trading overnight, and palladium was 3.0% below last Thursday's two-week high of $1,066. Both metals are used mainly in autocatalysts that reduce vehicle emissions.

Next data

U.S. producer price data for October is due on Friday. The Fed's next policy meeting is scheduled for Dec. 8-9, after it held its benchmark rate at 3.75% to 4% in October.