Gold tops $4,600, silver surges 6% after Powell remarks

February gold futures rose 1.9% to $4,585.5 an ounce

Gold futures soared past $4,600 an ounce for the first time ever, while silver continued its rally to record highs, as markets increasingly priced in a US Federal Reserve interest rate cut this year.

On Monday, February gold futures rose 1.9%, or $84.8, to $4,585.5 an ounce, after touching $4,612.7, marking the highest level ever for the most actively traded contracts.

March silver futures jumped 6.25% to $84.315 an ounce, after briefly hitting $84.57, also a record high.

Spot gold increased 1.45% to $4,574.16 an ounce, after earlier reaching a record $4,601.15, while spot silver added about 5.7% to $84.39, following a peak of $84.37.

The dollar index, which tracks the US currency against a basket of six major peers, fell roughly 0.2% to 98.95 at 9:17 a.m. Mecca time.

Platinum prices jumped 3.4% to $2,356.84 an ounce, and palladium rose 3.3% to $1,883.49.

The moves came after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Sunday that the US administration had threatened him with criminal charges over his congressional testimony, which Powell described as a pretext to pressure the central bank into cutting interest rates, according to Reuters.