The Gold and silver futures hit new record highs on Thursday as investors were flocking to safer assets.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the most-active February gold futures contract soared past 4,900 U.S. dollars per ounce during the session, while March silver futures climbed above 96 U.S. dollars per ounce.
Chart-based buying was the feature of the day as both metals remained in firmly bullish technical postures.
Benefiting from rising investment demand, robust industrial consumption and dwindling physical supplies, silver prices have risen 31 percent so far in January after soaring nearly 150 percent in 2025.
More market analysts are becoming increasingly cautious on the precious metal, as the odds of a major drawdown in silver prices have risen.
A speculative frenzy has become the major driving force behind the silver rally, and this could prove to be unsustainable. Moreover, the magnitude of the latest upsurge is difficult to justify by fundamentals. Analysts noted that there are clear signs of "Fear of Missing Out"-driven buying.
Silver's surge to fresh record highs could eventually be self-defeating, analysts said.
Analysts favor gold over other precious metals, arguing that it has the most attractive risk-reward profile. Besides safe-haven demand, gold will be the sole beneficiary of the broad-based efforts of emerging market central banks to diversify their reserves.
Goldman Sachs has raised its December 2026 price target for gold to 5,400 dollars per ounce, given private sector and emerging market central banks' diversification into gold.
Gold, silver futures continue to hit record highs as investors flock to safer assets
China's latest high-speed train model has reached 450 kilometers per hour in test runs, pushing the frontier of the country's high-end manufacturing and further underpinning its strategy of promoting industrial upgrading through technological innovation.
The CR450 high-speed train, China's newest-generation high-speed train, has completed half of its road tests, marking a milestone for the country's railway industry and reflecting closer integration between manufacturing and research, according to a leading railway scientist.
"Extensive work has been carried out on the CR450 project since 2025, and significant progress has been made. So far, the train has completed about 300,000 kilometers of testing, with more than half of the evaluation process already finished," said Zhao Hongwei, a chief researcher at the China Academy of Railway Sciences.
Developed entirely with independent intellectual property rights, the CR450 also demonstrates stronger resilience in China's industrial supply chains. The project is boosting related sectors such as machinery, metallurgy, electronics and chemicals, as key components are now produced domestically.
"A high-speed train is a highly complex piece of engineering equipment. We estimate it contains more than 40,000 components, along with multiple control systems. These parts come from many different sectors, supported by an entire industrial ecosystem. So projects like this naturally drive the development of the broader industrial chain," said Zhao.
The train also offers a glimpse of the direction China's manufacturing sector is heading for, as the government has pledged during this year's" two sessions" to promote the full integration between technological and industrial innovation.
Speaking at the Ministers' Corridor during the annual meetings, Li Lecheng, China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology, emphasized the need to translate scientific breakthroughs into tangible industrial progress.
"We will follow the principle that industry sets the questions and technology provides the answers. A new round of initiatives will upgrade key manufacturing supply chains, drive breakthroughs across the entire chain, and speed up their conversion into new quality productive forces," said Li.
China’s new high-speed train unveils ambition to bridge technology, manufacturing
