Platinum and palladium surge violently, spot consumption remains sluggish [SMM Daily Review]

[SMM Precious Metals Flash] Intercontinental Exchange has begun offering daily futures in London for gold, silver, platinum and palladium, the Financial Times reported on 6 October 2026. ICE’s specifications show physically settled, loco-London contracts sized at 50 troy ounces for platinum and 100 troy ounces for palladium, with delivery through recognised London vault accounts. In principle, the launch gives producers, refiners and traders a new cleared route to hedge London metal exposure, after earlier attempts to build a London gold-futures market failed. Its significance will depend on participation: neither ICE nor the report supplied trading-volume or open-interest evidence, so the contracts’ liquidity and effect on price dislocations are not yet established.

[SMM Precious Metals Flash] Spot gold fell 0.9% to US$4,140.06 an ounce by 18:33 GMT on 2 October and was down about 3.4% for the week, Reuters reported. US gold futures settled 1% lower at US$4,162.30. Bullion reversed an earlier gain of more than 1% despite weaker-than-expected September US payroll growth, as elevated Treasury yields and the dollar’s weekly strength pressured non-yielding metals. The reversal shows that weaker employment data alone was insufficient to overcome pressure from interest-rate expectations and long-dated bond yields. Platinum also fell 2% to US$1,692.90, while palladium declined 0.5% to US$1,165.75, with all major precious metals heading for weekly losses. These figures are Reuters’ stated 2 October market snapshots, not current live quotations.