Gold Heads for Worst Weekly Drop Since June as Fed Rate-Hike Bets Rise

The move is less about gold's own fundamentals than about the rate path being repriced around energy-driven inflation. A metal that touched a 13-month low and then posted its steepest weekly fall since June signals that the inflation-hedge case is being overridden by the opportunity cost of tighter policy. The read-across matters for crypto and other non-yielding stores of value, which face the same headwind. Whether energy prices keep feeding Fed expectations — and whether gold stabilizes once that repricing settles — is the open question.