Friday's economic data releases reinforced market expectations for monetary policy easing while precious metals continued their divergent trajectories, with silver challenging record highs even as gold retreated from recent gains. The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report released today aligned with analyst forecasts, showing headline PCE inflation rose 0.3% on a monthly basis and 2.8% year-over-year. Core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, demonstrated modest deceleration to 2.8% from the prior month's 2.9% reading. This gradual cooling in the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge ... (full story)