James Van Straten noted that all metals saw a rally following the Federal Reserve’s decision to initiate quantitative easing on December 10. This movement in metal prices appears to suggest market confidence in the measure.

All metals rallied after December 10, when the Fed decided to start QE.

So yes, the metals are saying it’s QE.

— James Van Straten (@btcjvs) December 28, 2025

The Fed Is Buying Billions in T-Bills. Just Don’t Call It QE.

The RMPs don’t constitute quantitative easing, or QE, as central bank buying is formally called, the Fed says. But the Fed T-bill purchases still have an impact, by allowing the Treasury’s debt managers to boost T-bills’ share to 30% of total borrowings from 22%, the Strategas team writes in a client note. In turn, auctions of notes and bonds would be smaller. In addition, the Treasury repurchases less actively traded (“off the run”) notes and bonds with the stated aim of improving market liquidity. Those repurchases have been stepped up, to $150 billion annually.

The Fed’s main policy tool, the federal-funds rate, hasn’t affected longer-term rates. The Treasury 10-year yield is higher, not lower, since the Fed started cutting its target rate by a total of 1.75 percentage points in September 2024, which Apollo Global Management’s chief economist, Torsten Sløk, calls a “mystery.” This is both contrary to previous Fed cutting cycles, starting in 2001, 2007, and 2019, and despite a decline in oil prices, which typically means lower yields, he says.

Silver prices have already more than doubled, and this is a direct reaction to what the Fed just did. They brought back quantitative easing — even if they don’t want to admit it. QE is just inflation by another name. When the Fed prints money and grows its balance sheet while cutting rates, silver responds immediately.