Monday, June 5

Gold

Gold Steadies Ahead of Fed Minutes, Copper Slammed By China Fears
Gold

Gold Steadies Ahead of Fed Minutes, Copper Slammed By China Fears

Gold prices hovered around six-month highs on Wednesday, cutting short a recent rally as traders bought back into the dollar in anticipation of more cues on monetary policy from the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s December meeting. The yellow metal marked a strong start to the new year as concerns over a looming recession and a potential slowdown in U.S. interest rate hikes led to increased demand for safe havens apart from the dollar. But the greenback recovered some lost ground on Wednesday, benefiting from uncertainty over the upcoming Fed minutes. Markets will be waiting to see if the members of the central bank supported a further easing in interest rate hikes during the December meeting, given that several inflation indicators showed that U.S. price pressures have likely peaked. Mar...
Gold Slumps Below $1,800 as Fed Fears Resurfacea
Gold

Gold Slumps Below $1,800 as Fed Fears Resurfacea

Gold prices sank below key levels on Tuesday, with metal markets back under pressure as stronger-than-expected U.S. data boosted the dollar and ramped up uncertainty over strength in the U.S. economy and how the Federal Reserve will respond to it. The dollar rose for the first session in four on Monday, recovering from a five-month low after U.S. factory orders and services sector data showed that some facets of the economy were running well above expectations, which could feed into inflationary pressures. This could push the Fed into raising rates for longer than expected, especially if inflation remains stubbornly above the central bank’s target range. While the Fed has flagged smaller rate hikes in the coming months, the central bank also warned that rates could peak at much higher-than...
Gold Hits Over 3-Month High As Powell Flags Slower Rate Hikes
Gold

Gold Hits Over 3-Month High As Powell Flags Slower Rate Hikes

Gold prices raced to a three-month high on Thursday after a forecast of smaller interest rate hikes by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sparked a rally in metal markets, while easing COVID-19 lockdowns in China saw copper prices surge to a two-week peak. The Fed chair said in an address at Washington that the central bank will likely moderate its pace of rate hikes in the coming months, as it steps back to observe the effects of sharp interest rate hikes on the economy this year. But Powell warned that U.S. interest rates will peak at much higher levels than previously expected, largely due to inflation remaining stubbornly high. The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, read around 5% in October, well above the Fed’s 2% target. But Powell’s...
Gold steady, Copper Rises Amid Smaller Rate Hike Expectations
Gold

Gold steady, Copper Rises Amid Smaller Rate Hike Expectations

Gold prices steadied on Wednesday, while copper extended strong gains as risk-driven assets rallied on expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates at a slower pace in the near-term, which also trimmed dollar gains. A growing number of Fed officials said in recent weeks that the central bank is likely to raise interest rates by a relatively smaller margin - 50 basis points (bps) - in December. This spurred a growing amount of bets that U.S. inflation has peaked, and that the central bank will eventually taper its pace of interest rate hikes further. Such a scenario is positive for metal markets, which were battered by rising interest rates this year. An improvement in But Kansas City Fed President Esther George Warned. Tuesday that interest rates could stay higher f...
Gold Buoyant Before The Fed, Copper Rallies on China COVID Hopes
Gold, Stock Market

Gold Buoyant Before The Fed, Copper Rallies on China COVID Hopes

Gold prices held recent gains on Wednesday as the dollar steadied before the conclusion of a Federal Reserve meeting, while copper prices were lifted by speculation over China potentially relaxing its strict zero-COVID policy Spot gold steadied around $1,648.23 an ounce, while gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,650.80 an ounce. Both instruments jumped from a 10-day low on Tuesday, as the dollar paused its recent rally The dollar index steadied around 111 on Wednesday, with focus turning to the conclusion of a Federal Reserve meeting later in the day. While the bank is widely expected to hike interest rates by 75 basis points (bps), markets will be watching for any indication from the Fed on when it plans to ease its hawkish tone Still, strong U.S. economic data this week showed that the central ...
Gold Treads Water as Investors Await U.S. Inflation Report
Gold

Gold Treads Water as Investors Await U.S. Inflation Report

By Administrator_India Capital Sands Gold steadied as investors await Thursday’s U.S. inflation report that may provide clues on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path. On Wednesday, the 10-year Treasury yield fell below 1.5% for the first time in a month, helped by a strong auction, while the rate on the U.S. long bond dropped to a level unseen since early March. This suggests that the Fed’s assurances that elevated inflation was probably temporary are gaining acceptance from investors. Traders are also awaiting the European Central Bank decision Thursday, with policy makers having all the evidence they need to keep in place their ultra-loose monetary stimulus, thanks in part to their opposite numbers at the Fed. Bullion has been largely treading water this week with in...
UK PM Boris Johnson says too early to say when national lockdown will end
Gold

UK PM Boris Johnson says too early to say when national lockdown will end

By Administrator_India Capital Sands Boris Johnson: The new strain of coronavirus and the fresh set of crises brought forth by it for the United Kingdom apart, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson hasn't been viewed too positively for his handling of the pandemic, if reports are to be believed. In March he had said that he is shaking hands "continuously" and that he did, in fact, shook hands "with everybody" at a hospital with coronavirus patients. By the end of that month, he had tested positive for the virus, and was hospitalised in April. Ever since, 2020 has been a year of intermittent lockdowns for the UK, with the latest lockdown being imposed after a fast-spreading variant of coronavirus was detected. It is too early to say when the national COVID lockdown in England will end, Bri...
Commodity Broker, Gold

Gold falls on firm dollar, U.S. economy re-open hopes

By Administrator_India Capital Sands Gold prices fell to a more than one-week low on Monday as the dollar firmed and as investors remained optimistic that the U.S. economy might reopen soon from lockdowns that were enforced to contain the novel coronavirus’ spread. * Spot gold fell 0.5% to $1,675.92 per ounce by 0038 GMT, having touched its lowest since April 9 earlier in the session. The metal slumped about 2% on Friday. * U.S. gold futures slipped 0.7% to $1,687.20. * The dollar strengthened 0.1% against key rivals, making gold costlier for investors holding other currencies. * Caution gripped Asian share markets on expectations of a busy week of corporate earnings reports and economic data will drive home the damage done by the global virus lockdown. * Governors in...