EIA: U.S. Midwest crude inventories fell last week to their lowest level since November 2014.

Domestic spot gold has tumbled in June, sliding from above 980 yuan/gram at the start of the month, prompting multiple brands to cut pure-gold retail prices. At Shenzhen’s Shuibei market foot traffic remains steady but many consumers are sitting on the sidelines, adopting a buy-the-rally stance and delaying purchases. The price pullback has nonetheless revived some just-needed demand: wedding-related orders have picked up and helped some retailers post year-on-year sales gains. Large one-off orders have increased at Shuibei — both investment bars and wedding buyers placing purchases worth several hundred thousand yuan are higher than last year. Upstream wholesalers, which had tightly controlled inventories during the prior rally, are now accelerating restocking as prices fall.

Sources said on the 24th Israel is considering withdrawing IDF forces from limited areas of southern Lebanon as US-hosted Israel-Lebanon talks enter a fifth round. The talks, which began on the 23rd and are expected to run through the 25th, are discussing vacating sections south of the UN Blue Line that IDF now holds; an Israeli official told Channel 13 the pullback would cover only a “small slice” — a few percent — of the relevant area. The proposed package, pushed by the US, would see US forces train the Lebanese army to deploy into and secure vacated zones and certify that forces entering those areas are Lebanese army personnel rather than Hezbollah. Israel has reportedly instructed the IDF it may operate freely within the Blue Line and act against imminent threats but must not conduct operations in more distant areas such as Beirut and Tyre; Israeli sources say US restrictions on Israeli action across multiple fronts have recently increased.