Spot gold rose in short-term trade to $4,098.99/oz. Spot silver gained $2 intraday to $59.67/oz, up 3.47%.

Chicago Fed President Goolsbee, a 2027 FOMC voting member, will participate in a fireside chat in ten minutes.

Ship-tracking data show that in the days before the U.S. announced it would reimpose a blockade on Iranian ports, Iran covertly moved tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. Over the past week six U.S.-sanctioned VLCCs transited into the Gulf of Oman with AIS transponders switched off, with combined capacity of about 12 mln barrels of crude. Since the U.S. on July 7 revoked a license allowing temporary Iranian oil sales, additional U.S.-sanctioned, Iran-linked vessels have been leaving the Strait; these movements are part of roughly 57 mln barrels Iran exported between two U.S. naval blockades.