Silver Falls Below $50 and Gold Hits a One-Year Low as the Tech Stock Selloff Spreads to Precious Metals

Silver dropped below $50 an ounce and gold fell to its lowest level in a year on Friday, October 30, 2026, as a second day of heavy selling in technology stocks spread to precious metals and investors weighed the prospect of U.S. interest rates staying higher for longer.

At about 11:53 a.m. ET, December silver futures on Comex were down $3.07, or 5.9%, at $49.31 an ounce, after touching $49.08, according to Yahoo Finance futures data. December gold futures were down $122.20, or 3.0%, at $3,909.20, with a session low of $3,900.90. Platinum futures fell about 3.9% to $1,435.40, and palladium futures were down about 2.6% at $978.50.

Lowest levels in about a year

Spot gold fell 2.7% to $3,910.53 an ounce, its lowest level since October 2025, and spot silver dropped 5.8% to $49.34, below $50 for the first time since November 2025, the Times of India reported. Spot platinum fell 4% to $1,428.35, its lowest since September 2025, and palladium declined 3.1% to $975.25, its lowest since June 2025, the newspaper said.

NDTV Profit reported that spot gold fell as much as 3.05% to $3,898.54 an ounce, the lowest since October 30 last year. It cited Bloomberg data showing silver headed for a monthly decline of more than 17%.

Earlier in London, the LBMA Gold Price benchmark was set at about $3,981 an ounce at the 10:30 a.m. auction, the lowest since the start of July, BullionVault reported. The benchmark peaked at $5,501 on the last day of January.

Why the metals are falling

Analysts linked the decline to inflation worries and the outlook for interest rates. "Ongoing concerns about inflation have multiple central banks continuing to tilt hawkish," Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals, said in comments reported by the Times of India. "Even though holds were delivered by major central banks this week, the indication was that the higher-for-longer theme prevails, and that's weighing on precious metals."

U.S. data released on Thursday showed that inflation accelerated in September as consumers paid more for gasoline and other goods, strengthening economists' expectations of a rate increase in December, the Times of India said. Higher interest rates raise the opportunity cost of holding metals that pay no yield. NDTV Profit noted that the possibility of renewed U.S. military action against Iran had pushed Brent crude to its highest since April, adding to inflation pressure.

The selloff in technology shares also played a role. Analysts at Commerzbank pointed to the possibility of forced selling and margin calls after the tech stock decline, according to the Times of India, while adding: "We consider the fall in precious metal prices to be exaggerated and continue to expect a recovery." The newspaper also said demand in China, the largest gold-consuming country, remained muted.

Silver's long slide

The $50 level carries historical weight for silver: it was the metal's all-time high in both 1980 and 2011, BullionVault noted. Silver surged as high as $121 at the start of this year amid a global supply deficit and retail product shortages, and by Friday it was down 8.0% from a week earlier, the company said.

BullionVault cited bullion consultancy Metals Focus, which said elevated prices were weighing on jewelry and silverware purchases and that "ongoing thrifting and substitution, particularly in photovoltaics, are reducing industrial silver demand." Metals Focus said the silver market deficit is expected to narrow further this year, with a return to surplus projected for next year.

Because silver has fallen faster than gold, the gold-silver ratio, which measures how many ounces of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold, climbed above 79 on Friday, its highest so far in 2026, according to BullionVault. Based on midday futures prices, the ratio stood at about 79.3.

Funds, miners and India

Exchange-traded funds and mining shares tracked the metals lower. Shortly after noon ET, the SPDR Gold Shares ETF was down about 3.1% and the iShares Silver Trust about 6%, while Newmont fell about 5.4% and Agnico Eagle Mines about 7.5%, Yahoo Finance data showed.

In India, MCX gold futures for November fell 2.98%, or Rs 4,206, to Rs 1,36,762 per 10 grams, and MCX silver futures for December tumbled 5.27%, or Rs 9,976, to Rs 1,79,477 per kilogram, NDTV Profit reported.

The Times of India said gold had declined 5.9% so far in October and was on track for a second consecutive monthly loss. Prices cited are intraday values and will change before the market close.