Editor’s Note
The surge in gold prices above $5,100 reflects a complex interplay of monetary shifts, geopolitical tensions, and market liquidity. As institutions raise their targets, this analysis explores whether the rally has staying power.
On January 26, 2026, spot gold prices in London historically broke through the $5,100 per ounce mark, with silver also hitting a new high. This round of global precious metals rally is jointly driven by currency credit restructuring, geopolitical risks, and liquidity expectations. Institutions are generally bullish on the market, with high-profile institutions raising their target prices to above $5,400. Simultaneously, capital is flowing into assets like gold ETFs, stocks, and savings gold on a large scale. Amid market frenzy, regulators have stepped in to strengthen risk controls, with exchanges adjusting trading limits, banks raising investment thresholds, and multiple parties warning of short-term technical overbought risks and pullback risks.
On January 26, 2026, precious metals prices surged across the board, with spot silver soaring 14% to $117.75 per ounce at one point, while gold and copper also reached new historical highs. Analysis points out that this round of frenzy is driven by multiple factors: escalating geopolitical tensions between Iran and the United States; market concerns about the Trump administration undermining the independence of the Federal Reserve, triggering “currency devaluation trades”; and massive inflows from private investors in Asia and Europe. Although some large investors may have taken profits, institutions generally believe that against a backdrop of high uncertainty, precious metals, especially gold, still have room for further upside.
Against the backdrop of domestic gold prices hitting new historical highs, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) have successively urgently adjusted the entry rules for their savings gold businesses. Starting January 30, ABC requires customers’ risk assessments to reach the “Aggressive” type or above; ICBC had already raised the requirement from “Conservative” to “Balanced” type or above on January 12. This move aims to raise investment thresholds, strengthen risk warnings, and guide customers to invest rationally based on their own financial conditions. Both banks emphasized that existing account redemptions, fixed investment executions, and other operations are not affected by the new rules. Market professionals remind investors to be wary of high-volatility risks and avoid blindly chasing highs.
Huaren Culture Group plans to inject core film and television assets including Zhengyang Yangguang, UME Cinemas, and Huaren Film Industry into its listed subsidiary Jiangsu Brothers at a price of approximately ¥4.577 billion. This transaction constitutes an “elephant merger”-style acquisition, with the transaction price being about 12 times the market value of Jiangsu Brothers. After the transaction is completed, existing shareholders like Alibaba and Tencent will deeply participate in the integration by holding shares in Jiangsu Brothers. This move aims to build a large-scale comprehensive listed film and television platform and integrate industry chain resources, but the market reaction has been relatively lukewarm.
Guangdong’s outstanding deposits at the end of 2025 reached ¥38.7 trillion, approaching the ¥40 trillion mark, with its total capital leading the nation in a tiered manner. Its GDP for the same year was ¥14.58 trillion, ranking first for 37 consecutive years, with an economic scale comparable to Brazil. Although GDP growth slowed to 3.9%, Guangdong demonstrates strong comprehensive strength in terms of population scale, number of business entities, total foreign trade, fiscal revenue, and capital markets. It possesses 9 trillion-level industrial clusters, highlighting its profound foundation and leading position as the number one economic province.
Taiwanese Horse Brand Ginseng has attracted attention due to a packaging error where the character “Long” (Dragon) was misprinted as “Long” (another character). Authorities urgently recalled the misprinted products and temporarily suspended offline pickups in multiple locations, leading to tight market supply. Affected by this “misprint” incident, the market performance of this ginseng has bucked the trend and risen, with wholesale and terminal transaction prices rising sharply for two consecutive days, with some channels showing signs of price gouging. Some merchants believe its scarcity may bring collection value, but other views point out that prices for new version products may fall back after arrival.
In the first quarter of 2026, nearly ¥38 trillion in residents’ time deposits are set to mature. Against the backdrop of bank deposit rates entering the “1% era,” traditional “extend maturity” wealth management paths have become ineffective, and massive funds face reallocation pressure. Although the predetermined interest rate for personal insurance products has been lowered to 1.89%, their long-term locked-in returns and guaranteed nature demonstrate value in a declining interest rate cycle, becoming an important vehicle for “wealth storage.” Multiple insurance companies have seen rapid growth in premium income during the “opening red” period, seizing the long-term wealth management market for residents, among which dividend insurance leveraging the “guaranteed + floating” feature has become the new main force.
Over the past decade, gold prices have risen nearly fourfold, repeatedly hitting new highs; while the lithium price index has retreated over 45% from its highs, with industry giants significantly cutting prices. This divergence stems from profound changes in supply-demand dynamics: global electric vehicle demand has cooled, coupled with the capacity impact of cultivated lithium, weakening the market position of natural lithium; while gold benefits from loose monetary expectations and safe-haven attributes. In the short term, the trends of the two may reverse, but lithium may find growth space in new areas like industrial heat dissipation.
Yao Kecan Duo founder Pu Zheng has been removed from his positions as Vice Chairman, General Manager, and Legal Representative, but remains as a director. The company has simultaneously appointed He Baluo as General Manager. The announcement revealed that due to violations by the underlying assets of the company’s participating M&A fund, the company tentatively confirmed significant losses from changes in the fair value of public offerings. As Pu Zheng failed to fully fulfill his compensation commitment to the company for related losses, the company has filed a lawsuit with judicial authorities.
