Gold, silver and precious metals prices jump, dollar dips as Democrats take control of Congress

Precious metals saw strong gains on Tuesday morning, while the value of the dollar fell, following the U.S. midterm elections.

Spot gold was 2% higher at $4,005.40 an ounce by 1:30 a.m. ET, while spot silver jumped 4% to trade at $51.68 per ounce.

Front-month gold futures added 2.2% to trade at $4,020.60, while silver futures were up 3.8% at $51.53.

Other metals seeing notable gains on Wednesday morning included platinum, which jumped 3.3% to trade at $1,462.20, and palladium, which was 3.8% higher at $969.33.

The moves came as vote counting continued in the midterms, with the Democrats projected to have won control of the House and multiple governors’ offices also turning blue.

U.S. stock futures broadly fell as the results came in, while Treasury yields also moved lower. Oil prices were marginally higher, while the U.S. dollar index shed around 0.3%.

Rhona O’Connell, head of market analysis for EMEA and Asia at StoneX, said in a note on Tuesday that if the Democrats won dual Congressional control, gold should find support as rates and the dollar would likely come under pressure.

She said it would result in “fiscal brinkmanship, institutional friction, both leading to uncertainty,” adding that “the Iran war and a weaker dollar would compete with [the] impact of [a] hawkish Fed.”

“Less fiscal stimulus argues for lower long yields and a softer dollar, offset by debt-limit premia in bills and a Fed leaning towards another hike,” she said.

Both gold and silver enjoyed record-breaking rallies in 2025, surging 66% and 135% respectively over the course of the year as investors sought safe haven assets amid geopolitical uncertainty and broader market volatility.

But the momentum has come undone this year, with rising inflation, surging bond yields and hawkish central banks removing support from the metals. Gold is down more than 7% year-to-date, while silver has tumbled almost 28%.

Spot gold rose on Monday as oil prices retreated, and is now on course for a weekly rise of around 3.7%.

Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com, said in a Tuesday note that the recovery remains fragile.

“The challenge for precious metals is that geopolitical uncertainty is not automatically translating into safe-haven demand when investors are also concerned about restrictive monetary policy,” she said. “They also face the risk of liquidation during sharp equity selloffs, as investors sell profitable or liquid positions to raise cash.”