Thieves smashed glass display cases and ransacked a jewelry store inside an East Bay mall, prompting nearby workers and shoppers to run for safety. Cellphone video shows suspects using hammers to break into Zales Jewelers at Stoneridge Shopping Center.
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games kick off in Italy on Friday, with top athletes from across the world competing for not just any prize, but for the most expensive medals in Olympics history. The Milano Cortina-based games come as the value of precious metals have skyrocketed, most notably gold and silver. Gold was worth about $2,500 per ounce when the Paris Summer Olympics took place in 2024.
Futures are trading higher after a strong bounce-back Monday, with all major indices ending the day higher, as we started February on a winning note. Investors were able to look past the crypto and precious metals meltdowns, geopolitical hot spots around the world, some big retail and institutional investors' profit-taking, and a surge of additional issues to power stocks higher on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrials led the way on Monday, closing at 49,407, up 1.05%,
Silver has experienced a remarkable bull market, more than quadrupling in value from around $30 (24.54) per ounce at the start of the year to an all-time high of $120.44 per ounce (28 grams) on Thursday (January 29). At the beginning of last year, the metal traded on COMEX the commodity division of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) near $30 in January and hovered between $37 and $40 through the summer before breaking decisively higher.
A downbeat start for European markets today with equities taking the back foot as traders once again look to the precious metal space for consistent returns. In a week filled with potential volatility, traders have to weigh up the direction of travel once Wednesdays FOMC meeting and mag7 earnings are out the way. While today's economic calendar remains relatively light, the release of German Ifo business climate and US durable goods data provide two areas of note.
The markets are retreating today after a two-day rally in which technology stocks were out front. Today, tech is a drag, with stalwart chipmaker Intel ( Nasdaq: INTC) down by a double digit percentage as worries around chip demand resurface. All three of the major stock market averages are seeing red, including a fractional decline in the Nasdaq Composite. Nvidia ( Nasdaq: NVDA) is a rare gainer today, tacking on 1.6% and preventing the markets from further declines.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.
The latest rally came after the U.S. launched strikes on Islamic State targets in Nigeria on Thursday, adding to other geopolitical tensions. Earlier in the week, the Trump administration continued to pile on more pressure on Venezuela by targeting additional oil tankers, squeezing a key source of revenue for the Maduro regime. Meanwhile, the Pentagon sent large numbers of special-operations aircraft, troops and gear into the Caribbean, sources told the Wall Street Journal.
Global markets are nearing the year-end with striking contrasts across major asset classes, shaped by shifting rate expectations, geopolitical uncertainty, and uneven economic momentum. Nowhere was this divergence more evident than in the performance of commodities, oil, and global equities. Gold led with a gain of more than 60%, its strongest annual advance in over a decade, while silver outperformed even that, surging nearly 100% over the year. Both precious metals benefited from expectations of global monetary easing, persistent geopolitical tensions,
Two dozen eggs, a gallon of milk, 30 rolls of toilet paper - and one ounce of 24 karat gold. While that might be one of the more expensive grocery runs a Costco shopper might make, it is one that could realistically happen. Costco sells hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of gold and silver each month. There are two ways to buy bars and coins from the wholesale club: online and in-store at certain warehouses. Here's what that looks like.
