Gold price rises, silver slips on Treasury cash-pile buyback signal

AI desk brief

Gold rose 1.2% intraday to around $4,719/oz, near a four-month high, after CNBC reported Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may tap the Treasury General Account’s $935 billion cash pile to fund buybacks of higher-yielding long-dated bonds. The prospect of a renewed “Treasury Twist” pressured yields lower, with the 10-year down as much as 4bp to 4.69% and the 30-year around 5.215%, easing the macro backdrop for bullion.

Silver lagged, down about 1% as it consolidated below the $70/oz resistance level after outperforming gold through August (+20% vs. gold’s +15%). Copper also firmed modestly, up 0.46% and still near record highs. Bessent had already doubled buybacks on the long end from $2 billion to at least $4 billion last week, but RBC’s Blake Gwinn called the latest move a “slapdash attempt” to stem the selloff and said the odds of the Treasury actually using the cash are “very, very low.”

Near term, the key driver remains long-end yields: if Treasury intervention keeps 30-year yields capped, gold should stay supported and silver may need to digest its recent outperformance below $70. This week’s catalysts are Wednesday’s July PCE data and Friday’s Jackson Hole speech from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, with economists looking for 3.6% headline PCE and 3.3% core y/y. A hotter inflation print or a rebound in long-end yields would likely pressure the metals complex, while further yield compression would reinforce the bullish gold trend.