Key Highlights

● Silver dropped $2.70 to $55.01 an ounce on Thursday.

● Gold futures fell to about $4,060 an ounce, a two-month low.

● Copper slid to its lowest close since July.

● Treasuries rallied, and the yen and Swiss franc led major currencies.

Silver fell sharply on Thursday, October 22, dropping $2.70 to $55.01 an ounce. The decline came in lockstep with gold, which slid to its lowest level in more than two months.

The selloff in precious metals stood out on a day when investors were cutting exposure to risky assets but still buying traditional havens like Treasuries.

Silver follows gold lower

Silver tends to move with gold, but often with bigger swings. It is a smaller, less liquid market, and it straddles two worlds: it is both a store of value and an industrial metal used in electronics, solar panels and other products.

On Thursday, both roles pointed lower. Gold futures fell to about $4,060 an ounce, according to one data source, though another put the close nearer $4,039, and market data called it gold's lowest close since July. Silver's drop of $2.70 was steep for a metal trading near $55.

Industrial worries

The industrial side of silver faced headwinds too. Copper fell to its lowest close since July, signaling softer sentiment toward industrial metals.

The day's market action was dominated by fears about artificial-intelligence spending. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) shares fell after it raised the low end of its 2026 capital spending range to $135-145 billion and reported negative free cash flow. Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) cited supply constraints, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index had its biggest one-day drop since June 23. AI-linked power and electrical stocks, such as GE Vernova (NYSE:GEV), also sank.

Asia was weak overnight. South Korea's Kospi and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell, and China's CSI 300 entered a bear market, which can weigh on demand expectations for industrial metals.

A broad de-risking

Silver's slide was part of a wider retreat from crowded trades. Bitcoin fell toward $81,000 in its biggest drop since June. A major bank said its clients pulled a record $14.8 billion from single stocks.

"The dominant market dynamic in recent weeks has been the unwinding of AI-related positions by hedge funds," one bank strategist said.

Gold miners also sank, with the VanEck Gold Miners ETF sharply lower at midday. Newmont (NYSE:NEM) reported third-quarter results after the close, posting adjusted earnings of $2.20 a share and $1.9 billion in free cash flow.

Havens that held

Not every haven fell. Treasuries rallied strongly, and the 10-year yield closed back below a closely watched threshold for the first time since September 22. The yen and Swiss franc led major currencies higher.

Lower yields would usually help precious metals, which pay no interest. That made Thursday's drop in silver and gold all the more notable.

Oil, meanwhile, kept climbing. Brent rose to $113.17, its highest since May 4, after Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia and a media report on possible renewed strikes on Iran.

The broader stock market was split. The Nasdaq Composite fell 694 points to 26,008.86 and the S&P 500 dropped 93.74 points to 7,663.43, its worst day since July, but about two of every three S&P 500 stocks rose, according to market data.

Silver's Next Clues From PMIs and the Fed

Silver traders will watch Friday's S&P Global PMIs for signs of industrial demand. The Federal Reserve, led by Chair Kevin Warsh, announces its decision on October 28, and third-quarter GDP and September PCE inflation follow on October 29. Any escalation in the Middle East could revive haven demand for precious metals, while further strain in AI-linked stocks could keep pressure on industrial metals.