PRECIOUS-Gold, silver hit record highs on Fed rate-cut bets

Dec 22 (Reuters) - Gold and silver hit record highs on Monday as softer U.S. labour data and a tame inflation reading fuelled bets the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in January. FUNDAMENTALS Spot gold (XAU=) climbed 1% to an all-time high at $4,384.50 an ounce by 02:03 GMT. U.S. gold futures (GCcv1) added 0.7% to $4,416.30. Spot silver (XAG=) rose 2.2% to hit a record high at $68.65. Gold, a traditional safe-haven asset, is up 67% for the year, driven by geopolitical and trade tensions, robust central bank buying, and hopes of lower rates next year. Silver has gained 125% year-to-date, outpacing gold. U.S. consumer prices rose 2.7% year-on-year in November, data showed, falling short of the 3.1% increase forecast by economists polled by Reuters. Futures on the federal funds rate indicated a slightly increased chance of the Fed trimming rates at its January meeting, after the data. (FEDWATCH) Last week, data showed that the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, surpassing a Reuters poll of economists’ estimates of 4.4%, the highest since September 2021. Fed Governor Christopher Waller, who is in the running to be chosen as Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s successor, said last week that the Fed still had more room to cut rates. Non-yielding assets such as gold tend to do well in a low-interest-rate environment. Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs sees gold prices climbing 14% to $4,900/oz by December 2026 in its base case, on structurally high central bank demand and cyclical support from Fed interest rate cuts, the brokerage said in a note on Thursday. Platinum (XPT=) rose 2.6% to $2,028.34, a more than 17-year high. Palladium (XPD=) added 3.8% to $1,772.74, a near three-year high.