Gold, silver futures drop on Friday

International gold and silver prices both dropped sharply on Friday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for August delivery fell 3.35 percent to settle at 4,353.90 U.S. dollars per ounce, while silver futures for July delivery dropped 8.08 percent to close at 67.995 dollars per ounce.

Students from U.S. universities have expressed profound excitement after receiving a reply letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping, vowing to deepen friendly ties and cultural exchanges with China. Recently, nearly 100 students from Harvard University and nine other U.S. universities wrote to Xi, sharing their experiences and what they had gained from the Future Makers 2026 China-U.S. Youth Tour for a Shared Asia-Pacific Future and other exchange events in China, and expressing their willingness to contribute to promoting China-U.S. friendship.

A reply has arrived, just before Xi's state visit to the United States.

In his letter, Xi welcomed the students' appreciation for Chinese civilization, their hope for friendly cooperation between China and the United States, and their willingness to act as envoys of friendship bridging the Pacific Ocean.

Noting that young people from both countries share the same planet Earth and jointly shoulder the mission of the times, Xi urged them to advance China-U.S. friendly cooperation, foster mutual understanding and affinity between the two peoples, and contribute the vitality of youth to building a better world.

After returning from their trip, students at Central Michigan University agreed that they had come home with a renewed perspective. Now that they had actually set foot in China, what they saw was more concrete than what they had previously learned from the classroom, books, or the internet.

"I've only really learned a lot about China in class through my studies, through books, and actually going there to experience China was completely different. You never really know what a culture is like until you go and experience it yourself. So going there and actually stepping on the ground and talking to people and learning about their lives was just so much more than I could ever have learned in a book," said Kiana Haywood, a senior student at Central Michigan University.

"When I got there, I learned that we were all actually very much more similar than we thought. We found that American and Chinese students were so unbelievably closely related. We found that we have the same humor. We have the same stress. We share so many things in common that we had just not known about," said Kevin Baker, a sophomore at Central Michigan University.

Since President Xi launched an initiative to invite 50,000 young Americans to China for exchange and study programs over a five-year span in November 2023, over 50,000 young Americans have visited China, achieving the target two and a half years ahead of schedule.

The university students recognized that the initiative had helped bring their exchange trip to China into reality, so they wrote to Xi, hoping to express their gratitude and to let the Chinese president know what the experience had meant to them.

"I think doing what we are doing right now and just kind of spreading that message, really emphasizing the importance of programs like these," said Grace, another student from Central Michigan University.

"We wrote a letter because we kind of want to just help him realize like how amazing the experience was that we were able to participate in and just tell him we need more opportunities like these," said Haywood.

Xi's reply encouraged the students to continue seeking exchanges, building on the experience they had through the program. That message resonated deeply with the participants.

"I think the part where he talked about how important it is to continue this exchange, and that made me think about the students that we met and making sure we continue the friendships that we built on this trip because I was the whole point of the trip, really getting to experience each other's culture," said Grace.

Speaking of the meeting between the two heads of state, the American students said they hope it will promote more exchanges between the two countries.

"I think it's going to be a really great opportunity, especially because we can continue talks about a shared future between our two nations, especially because with how the world is, we do really want to have that strong connection to other nations right now," Baker said.