Silver fell 2% to $53.89 an ounce at 9:30 a.m. Eastern on Friday, October 23, Forbes reported, as gold slipped and oil climbed above $115 a barrel. The drop leaves the metal more than half below the record it set in January. The price is an intraday quote, not a closing figure.
What moved on Friday morning
Gold futures slipped about 0.5% to $4,040.50 an ounce, near a three-month low, Forbes reported. The metal was on track for its steepest weekly decline in several months. Its 2026 peak was about $5,600, so Friday’s price sits roughly 28% below that high. Silver’s 2% drop was four times gold’s 0.5%.
Oil moved the other way. Brent crude rose nearly 2% to above $115 a barrel, its highest level in five months. Forbes tied the jump to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, including a strike on a Saudi airport that killed at least two people.
The U.S. pulled diplomats from Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Aramco told staff to work remotely, according to the same report. Energy prices feed straight into household costs, from gasoline to heating oil, which is why a spike in crude lands on retirees living on fixed incomes.
Why the metals are under pressure
Ole S. Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, blamed the decline on the “inflationary impact of rising energy prices.” He said gold was heading for its steepest weekly decline in several months and potentially its weakest weekly close since November.
The reasoning runs through interest rates. CME FedWatch put the odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike at the late-October meeting at 9.4%, with 90.6% for no change. Odds of a December hike were near 80%. Higher rates tend to pressure metals, which pay no interest.
What changed this year: Social Security and Medicare change every year, and nobody sends you a memo. The Retirement Money Brief breaks down what changed and what to do. Bonus when you subscribe: our 2026 Retirement Tax, RMD & Medicare Deadline Calendar.
Get the Brief and the deadline calendar →
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
By the market’s own odds, a hike at the late-October meeting is unlikely. December is a different matter: with odds near 80%, the next move traders are pricing in is higher rates, not lower. That expectation is what Forbes ties to the pressure on gold and silver.
Hike odds had risen above 50% earlier in October after September inflation data stayed elevated, Forbes noted. A hike would reverse the rate cuts Forbes says helped drive the earlier rally, and it would raise borrowing costs on cards and variable-rate loans.
Justin Lin, an analyst at Global X ETFs, told Bloomberg that metals are likely facing a “liquidity-driven selloff” that tends to happen in sharp market downturns. Tech stocks and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also fell this week, according to Forbes.
Two events stand out ahead. The late-October Fed meeting, where the futures market sees no change at 90.6%, comes first. After that, the path of Brent crude depends on whether the attacks on Saudi Arabia widen. Both feed the inflation story Hansen described.
How far silver has fallen from January
Forbes said silver reached an all-time high above $120 in January. Dealer SD Bullion’s price table puts the record fix at $118.45 on January 29. The next day the fix dropped to $103.19, a decline the dealer attributes to CME margin hikes that forced liquidations.
The same table shows silver opening 2026 at $74.22 on January 2. Friday’s $53.89 is about 27% below that starting point. Friday’s quote is also about 18% below the dealer’s latest fix in that table, $65.57 on September 7, though a fix and an intraday price are not the same measure.
Forbes described the rally from late 2025 into early 2026 as helped by rate cuts, technology demand and geopolitical tension. It said prices crashed after President Trump nominated Kevin Warsh, viewed as a monetary policy hawk, to lead the Fed. Prices have generally fallen during the Iran war as oil rose.
What the quote means for someone who holds silver
A 9:30 a.m. figure moves with every trade. By the close the price may be higher or lower, and the 2% decline Forbes cited covers only the early session. Anyone tracking a holding should look at the closing level and the weekly change before drawing a conclusion.
Selling raises a tax question. The IRS says net capital gains from selling collectibles, such as coins or art, are taxed at a maximum 28% rate. Assets held more than one year produce long-term gains; assets held a year or less produce short-term gains taxed as ordinary income.
The IRS topic, reviewed September 24, does not list silver by name, so holders should confirm how their form of silver is classified before selling. A loss on a sale is a different calculation, and a holder who bought near the January record may be sitting on one.
The price drop also changes the household math for retirees who counted on metals as a cushion. A holding worth far less than it was in January covers fewer months of bills, and the oil spike pushes those bills up at the same time.
The question for a silver holder is what covers the gap if the cushion keeps shrinking: selling at a loss, or leaning on programs that lower bills without touching the holding.
If metals savings shrink, what covers the bills?
A silver holder who counted on the metal as a cushion has seen it lose more than half its January peak while oil, and with it household costs, climbs. Selling at a loss to cover bills locks in the drop.
This is a markets story, and the Benefits Checklist is not a metals tool. The related job it finishes is household costs for people 60 and older: it scans 11 benefit programs retirees often miss, lists the 2026 income limits, and includes a 50-state phone directory for the offices that take applications.
Check 11 benefit programs that lower bills without selling a holding, with the checklist →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 15 Ways Retirees Are Tapping a Record $14.9 Trillion in Home Equity
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
