Global Gold Climbs to 4,373 Dollars an Ounce After Strong US Retail Sales Data

According to a Kitco News report published Wednesday, September 16, 2026 (Shahrivar 25, 1405), the US Commerce Department said retail sales rose 1.2 percent in August from the prior month, beating economists' average forecast of a 0.8 percent increase, and following an unrevised -0.6 percent reading in July. Kitco reported that gold spiked to a session high of 4,353.78 dollars an ounce on the data before settling up 1.10 percent on the day at 4,340.98 dollars. Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management, told Kitco the August retail sales report was excellent and that given the path of inflation and labor market strength, there was no reason the Federal Reserve would not raise interest rates by 25 basis points that same afternoon, a hike the Fed did approve at its meeting that day. Gold kept climbing afterward: according to live data from TGJU, as of 3:59 PM Tehran time on Thursday, September 17, 2026 (Shahrivar 26, 1405), gold was up 2.71 percent from the prior day at 4,373.35 dollars an ounce, while silver rose 4.17 percent to 65.51 dollars an ounce.