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Gold and silver have moved higher leading into the European session despite more bearishness on Thursday. Gold is now trading at $1785/oz while silver has moved to $26.17/oz. One of the big stories from yesterday's session was the drop in palladium. The precious metal moved 11.26% lower. In the rest of the commodities complex, copper trades 0.35% higher and spot WTI has moved -0.31% in the red.
The risk sentiment overnight was mixed overnight. The Nikkei 225 closed -0.19% lower while the Shanghai Composite (0.15%) and ASX (0.13%) both moved higher. Futures markets in Europe seem to be pointing toward a negative cash open.
In FX markets, the dollar index has pushed 0.08% higher as it extends on recent gains. The biggest mover overnight is NZD/USD which lost -0.37% and now trades under the psychological 0.70 level.
In terms of news from the late U.S. and overnight, the Bank of Japan announced no change to the main monetary policy as expected. Pandemic relief program extended by six months.
China’s Sichuan province to fully shut down mining operations
Germany May PPI +1.5% vs +0.7% m/m expected. UK May retail sales -1.4% vs +1.5% m/m expected. Japan May 2021 headline CPI -0.1% y/y (vs. expected -0.2%).
Friday 18 June 2021 is "quadruple witching" day. This refers to the simultaneous expiry of four types of financial contracts. Single stock futures, stock index futures, stock index options and single stock options.
CME has raised Platinium futures initial margin by 15% for speculators and palladium by 14.8%.
There have been reports that Chinese apps could face subpoenas, or even bans, under a Biden executive order.
White House security advisor Sullivan says they are considering a call between U.S. President Biden and Chinese Premier Xi.
There are some media reports that the delayed U.K. lockdown reopening date could be brought forward by two weeks.
Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include UK retail sales data, German PPI and comments from Fed's Kashkari.
By Rajan Dhall
For Kitco News
