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Christmas presents may be arriving later than expected for many rural communities in Alaska. That’s after Alaska Air Cargo, Alaska Airlines’ cargo-specific carrier, placed an embargo on freight shipments for several hubs across the state.

According to Alaska Airlines, the embargo began on Dec. 16 and will end on Dec. 21.

The embargo excludes Alaska Air Cargo’s GoldStreak shipping service, designed for smaller packages and parcels, as well as live animals.

Alaska Airlines spokesperson Tim Thompson cited “unexpected freighter maintenance and severe weather impacting operations” as causes for the embargo.

“This embargo enables us to prioritize moving existing freight already at Alaska Air Cargo facilities to these communities,” Thompson said in an email to KNOM. “Restrictions will be lifted once the current backlog has been cleared.”

With the Christmas holiday just a week away, carriers like Northern Air Cargo have rushed to fill the gap. Gideon Garcia, the Anchorage-based company’s vice president of cargo operations, said he’s noticed an uptick in package volume.

“It’s our peak season, and we’re all very busy in the air cargo industry,” Garcia said. “We are serving our customers with daily flights to our scheduled locations across the state and trying to ensure the best possible holiday season for all of our customers.”

Garcia said the holiday season is a tough time for all cargo carriers, but especially those flying in Alaska.

“We operate in places that many air carriers in other parts of the country just sort of shake their head at in disbelief. But to us, it’s our everyday activity,” Garcia said. “The challenges we face with windstorms, with cold weather, make it operationally challenging.”

Mike Jones is an economist at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He said a recent raft of poor weather across the state only compounded problems for Alaska Air Cargo.

“I think we’ve seen significantly worse weather at this time of year that is at one of the most poorly timed points in the season,” Jones said.

Jones said Alaska Air Cargo is likely prioritizing goods shipped through the U.S. Postal Service’s Alaska-specific bypass mail program during the embargo period. That includes palletized goods destined for grocery store shelves but not holiday gifts purchased online at vendors like Amazon.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Alaska Airlines was responsible for 38% of freight shipped to Nome in December 2024.

Alaska Air Cargo’s daily scheduled flight between Anchorage and Nome has only flown four times in the month of December, according to flight data from FlightRadar24.

An Alaska Air Cargo 737-800 freighter landed in Nome Thursday at 11:53 a.m., its first arrival in a week. Friday’s scheduled flight has been cancelled.

Dec 19 (Reuters) – Gold prices were little changed on Friday as a stronger U.S. dollar and rising Treasury yields dented demand for the non-yielding metal, though bullion was still set for a weekly gain.

Spot gold rose 0.1% to $4,338.37 an ounce as of 10:05 a.m. ET (1505 GMT), but was set to log a weekly gain of 0.9%. U.S. gold futures also gained 0.1% to $4,370.10.

The U.S. dollar climbed to a more than one-week high, making dollar-priced bullion costlier for overseas buyers. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields also edged higher.

“We’re seeing some reaction to a stronger U.S. dollar, higher yields along the curve, and a slightly firmer risk appetite since yesterday,” said Bart Melek, global head of commodity strategy at TD Securities. “Markets are consolidating below recent highs after the Fed’s December 25-basis-point cut.”

Meanwhile, U.S. consumer prices rose 2.7% year-on-year in November, below economists’ forecast of a 3.1% increase.

Federal funds rate futures indicate 58 basis points of rate cuts by the Fed in 2026. FEDWATCH/

Spot silver added 1.5% to $66.38 an ounce, set to end the week 7.2% higher after hitting a record high of $66.88 on Wednesday.

Silver has surged 128% this year, outpacing gold’s 65% rise, supported by strong investment demand and supply constraints.

“Silver is driven by investor interest in ETFs … there is a lot of interest in call options, prompting market makers to hedge the underlying, what we call a bit of a gamma squeeze here,” Melek added.

Meanwhile, gold discounts in India widened to a more than one-month high as record prices curbed wedding-season demand, while Chinese markdowns reached their steepest since late August 2020.

Platinum added 2.3% to $1,960.41 after touching a more than 17-year high on Thursday. Palladium fell 0.1% to $1,693 after hitting a nearly three-year high earlier in the session. Both metals were set for weekly gains.

Reporting by Sarah Qureshi in Bengaluru. Editing by Jane Merriman

As Acting Chairman of the CFTC, I welcome IOSCO’s final report on pre-hedging. Pre-hedging is a well-established risk management practice, underpinned by extensive industry guidance and expertise. I am proud that the CFTC played an active role in IOSCO’s efforts, contributing to the review of existing codes and practices, the survey of members and industry participants, the formal consultation process, and the stakeholder roundtables.

IOSCO’s final report rightly acknowledges that individual member jurisdictions already have rules in place to address pre-hedging, complemented by industry codes and standards such as the FX Global Code, the Global Precious Metals Code, and the Financial Markets Standards Board (FMSB) Standard for execution of Large Trades in FICC markets. Importantly, IOSCO has made clear that its recommendations are designed to support existing rules and regulations, recognizing that many jurisdictional frameworks are already achieving the intended outcomes. IOSCO has also made clear that its recommendations, which apply across asset classes, align with these industry codes and standards. I believe this alignment is critical to avoid disruption of markets that are essential to the real economy, mitigate systemic risk and promote financial stability. 

The publication of IOSCO’s final report serves to reinforce the standards the CFTC sets for entities within our jurisdiction. For the avoidance of doubt, the views expressed in the IOSCO report reflect the CFTC’s position on pre-hedging. In light of this, I do not anticipate the need for further CFTC rulemaking or guidance to address IOSCO’s recommendations.