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Gold and silver are trading higher again on Thursday morning heading into the European open. It has been a real choppy week as the price action has remained sideways oscillating between gains and losses. The yellow metal trades at $1744.74oz while silver holds at $25.53/oz.
The indices have been mixed in the Asia Pac area. The Nikkei 225 is just above flat and the ASX is 0.51% in the black. The main laggard is the China A50 which moved 1.21% lower and the Shanghai Composite also traded 0.68% in the red.
In the FX markets, things were pretty lacklustre. Only NZD/USD got in to double digits in terms of movement with the pair trading 0.13% higher. In the rest of the commodities complex, copper moved 1.12% higher and spot WTI moved up half a percent.
In terms of news, earlier this morning the Germany March prelim final CPI came in at +1.7% vs exp +1.7% y/y.
Australian March jobs report, Employment change +70.7K (vs. expected +35K) & Unemployment rate 5.6% (vs. expected 5.7%), some impressive numbers there.
Taiwan's President says Chinese military activities threaten regional peace, stability, this comes after the Chinese military moved closer to the nation.
It has also been reported that the PBOC has drained 1-year funds from the banking system.
The BoK kept interest rates unchanged and governor Lee said it was too early to discuss changes and the direction of the recovery is driven by the vaccination drive.
Fed's Clarida drops clues on what to watch for hints of asset purchase taper ahead, adding Fed rates will be lower for longer and the Fed could delay the lift-off.
Last night Fed's Powell also said the markets are too obsessed with the dot plot and not the Fed's actual goals (inflation and employment levels.
Australia faces a big risk of tariffs on its exports if it does not meet its climate change obligations.
Speaking of sanctions, the US is preparing some fresh Russian sanctions targeting the nations sovereign debt.
Sticking with geopolitics, China's top official in Hong Kong says any foreign power looking to use the nation as a pawn will face countermeasures.
Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include the Turkish rate decision, U.S. retail sales, initial jobless claims, Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index, industrial production, manufacturing production and comments from Fed's Mester, Daly, Bostic, German Buba's Mauderer, SNB Gov Board Member Maechler
By Rajan Dhall
For Kitco News
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