Precious metals continue to command the spotlight as Christmas week tees off with gold and silver surging to fresh record highs.

Plus, all major U.S. equity benchmarks are extending gains for a third consecutive session as markets head into a seasonally strong stretch of the calendar.

Gold jumped 2.3% to $4,440 per ounce, marking its strongest daily advance in more than a month. Year to date, gold has gained 67%,

Silver rallied 2.1%, pushing closer to the psychologically important $70 level. Year-to-date silver has delivered nearly double that return, soaring 133%.

Shares of gold and silver miners, tracked by the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (ARCA: and the Global X Silver Miners ETF (ARCA: SLV) rocketed 3.6% and 5%, respectively.

Midday Trading In New York:

The Russell 2000 climbed 1.6%.

The S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 6,875, trading less than 1% below record highs.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 added 0.5%.

The ...