Business

CME raises gold, silver margins after steepest single-day plunge in decades

Published

5 days ago

31 January 2026

CME raises gold, silver margins after steepest single-day plunge in decades

CME Group is raising margin requirements on Comex gold and silver futures after the metals saw some of their steepest declines in decades. The move is aimed at safeguarding market stability amid heightened volatility.

According to an exchange statement issued Friday, margins for gold futures under the non-heightened risk profile will be increased to 8% of the underlying contract value from the current 6%. For positions classified under the heightened risk profile, margins will rise to 8.8% from 6.6%.

Silver futures will see even steeper revisions. Margins for non-heightened risk positions will climb to 15% from 11%, while those under the heightened risk category will be raised to 16.5% from 12.1%. The exchange also announced margin increases for platinum and palladium futures, reflecting broader volatility across precious metals.

The revised margin requirements will take effect from Monday’s close. CME Group said the decision follows a routine review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage and maintain orderly trading conditions.

Higher margins mean traders in gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures will now have to deposit additional collateral to maintain their positions. While margin adjustments are a standard response during periods of sharp price swings — whether upward or downward — the latest move could make it more challenging for smaller participants with limited capital to remain active in the market.

Earlier this week, the exchange had already raised margins for silver, platinum and palladium futures after strong price rallies.
On Friday, spot silver in the international market tanked 28% to $85 per troy ounce. The white metal touched a record high of $121.60 earlier in the week. On the MCX, Silver March futures plunged 27% — or Rs 1,07,968 — in a single day, marking its worst ever crash and dragging prices back below the Rs 3 lakh mark, just a day after the metal had soared to a record high of Rs 4 lakh.

Also read: Silver crashes over Rs 1 lakh to log worst-ever fall on MCX. 3 factors behind the decline

Gold prices also reversed sharply on Friday, down 4.7% at $5,143.40 an ounce. On the MCX, gold February futures tanked 12% or Rs 20,514 to close the session at Rs 1,50,440 per 10 grams, marking their worst one-day rout since March 2013, when prices had plunged 9% on the MCX.

The primary trigger was the nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next US Federal Reserve Chair by President Trump. Mr. Warsh, known for his hawkish stance on inflation control and emphasis on Fed independence, prompted a rapid macro re-pricing: the US dollar strengthened, real yields rose, and leveraged positions in gold and silver, viewed as overextended debasement hedges, unwound swiftly.

This led to violent liquidation, erasing billions in market value and flushing out weak hands in what he described as a classic euphoria-to-exhaustion phase, rather than signalling a structural bear market reversal.

Despite the severity of the pullback, the secular bullish structure heading into 2026 remains firmly intact, Ponmudi R of Enrich Money said. Core drivers persist, with relentless central bank buying being the most significant.

The correction serves as a healthy reset, purging excess leverage, speculative froth, and overbought conditions, thereby positioning the market for more sustainable upside once sentiment stabilises and buy-on-dip interest returns. “Near-term caution is warranted due to dollar strength and volatility, but medium-to-long-term forecasts stay firmly bullish,” Ponmudi said.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Business

PAMT CORP: Pain Is Likely To Continue Near-Term (Downgrade)

Published

5 minutes ago

4 February 2026

NewsAdmin

PAMT CORP: Pain Is Likely To Continue Near-Term (Downgrade)

Business

From Pixar to Disney+: The $100-billion blueprint behind Bob Iger’s Disney

Published

13 minutes ago

4 February 2026

NewsAdmin

From Pixar to Disney+: The $100-billion blueprint behind Bob Iger’s Disney

When Bob Iger was promoted to chief executive officer of Walt Disney Co in 2005, he took over a company that was an undeniable force in entertainment and theme parks, but badly in need of rejuvenation.

In one of his first moves, Iger made Disney shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives available for sale on Apple ‘s iTunes platform, ushering in the unique idea of watching TV online. Three months later he bought Pixar from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. That $7.4 billion deal was an eye-popper, paving the way for blockbusters like Cars and Inside Out that reinvigorated Disney’s animated film business.

Those early moves hinted at key parts of Iger’s strategy: acquire marquee entertainment franchises and find new ways to exploit them. As he prepares to hand the reins next month to his successor, theme-parks chief Josh D’Amaro, Iger leaves a legacy that includes snapping up the biggest brand names in Hollywood via more than $100 billion in mergers and acquisitions, expanding in China and building a streaming business that delivered $24.6 billion in revenue from people watching movies and TV shows online last year.

“That’s one huge insight of his,” said David Collis, an executive education fellow at Harvard Business School who has written about Iger. “If you own these incredible entertainment franchises, any device only increases demand for your content.”

More deals followed Pixar, including Marvel Entertainment and its stable of superheroes, Star Wars-parent Lucasfilm and the $71 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019, which brought in franchises like The Simpsons and Avatar.

“The deal we did for Fox, in many ways, was ahead of its time,” Iger said this week on an earnings call when asked about Netflix’s pending acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.
Those acquired characters and stories found their way into Disney’s theme parks. In 2013, when the company first began exploring a Star Wars land for the parks, Iger told his designers, “Be the most ambitious that you have ever been,” Bob Weis, the longtime head of Disney’s parks design business, recalled in his 2024 autobiography.Iger was also keen on international expansion, green-lighting the $5.4 billion Shanghai Disneyland. Before its 2016 opening, Iger flew to China on a nearly monthly basis to monitor its progress, according to Weis.

The same year the Fox acquisition closed, Iger launched Disney+, the company’s flagship streaming service, the company’s response to the growing dominance of Netflix in online viewing. Providing a new outlet for programming that ran on networks like the Disney Channel was a threat to the company’s lucrative cable-TV business, but in the end, Iger relented.

Disney+ was a hit from the start. Ten million customers signed up the first day, driven by programming such as the Star Wars-spinoff The Mandalorian. The company reported 132 million Disney+ subscribers at the end of its latest fiscal year.

TV Star
Iger has spent his whole career in the TV business, rising up the ranks at ABC and performing every task, from getting a bottle of Listerine for Frank Sinatra before a TV special to scheduling the 1988 Winter Olympics. He was considered a likely CEO of broadcaster Capital Cities/ABC until that company was acquired by Disney in 1996 and he had to start clawing his way up the corporate ladder again.

When a shareholder revolt finally prompted the retirement of Disney CEO Michael Eisner in 2005, Iger got his shot.

More than 20 years later, the worst grade on Iger’s corporate report card likely comes in succession planning. Multiple extensions of his contract over the years led senior Disney executives to exit. When he finally stepped down for the first time in 2020, his handpicked successor Bob Chapek proved to be disappointment.

As Iger prepares to pass the baton to D’Amaro on March 18, he leaves plenty of work still to be done. On the recent earnings call, Iger said he hoped his replacement would carry on with his focus on reinvention.