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Gold Price News: Gold Sees Choppy Trading After Bearish Week
Gold prices were volatile on Friday, closing out a week of overall losses, although prices finished the day little changed compared with Thursday’s close.
Gold traded mostly in a range of $2,040 to $2,050 an ounce on Friday, barring a brief period of heightened volatility which saw prices drop sharply to $2,025 before rebounding quickly to $2,061 an ounce.
The trigger for the early afternoon volatility appeared to be the release of US Non-Farm Payrolls figures, which showed that 216,000 jobs were added in November, versus a consensus of 170,000. However, the picture was further muddied later Friday afternoon with the release of US ISM Services PMI data, which came in below expectations and showed the lowest reading in seven months, painting a somewhat mixed view of the US economy. Read More
Silver Price News: Silver Posts End-Of-Week Gains
Silver prices made modest gains on Friday, clawing back some of the losses seen earlier in the week.
The grey metal traded as high as $23.49 an ounce before edging back to $23.19 later in the session. That compared with a low of $22.72 an ounce on Thursday. Friday’s action showed that silver had partially reversed the losses seen earlier in the week, when prices fell from as high as $24.11 an ounce.
Economic data from the US on Friday showed a mixed picture, with jobs figures surprising on the upside but services figures suggesting weakness in that section of the economy. The markets were left to digest the implications of the latest figures for future interest rate trajectories by the US Fed, with expectations that the central bank could start cutting rates at its upcoming meeting of March 20.
Silver, like gold, continues to take a degree of support from ongoing tensions in the Middle East, due to its status as a precious metal and safe haven investment. Read More
Retail investors divided on gold’s trajectory, analysts more bullish than ever
Gold prices spent the first week of 2024 solidly above $2000 per ounce, but they were yanked up and down as markets attempted to calibrate their expectations of how soon the Federal Reserve will cut rates based on economic data releases.
After trading sideways on Monday and Tuesday, gold sold off sharply following the publication of the minutes from December’s FOMC meeting on Wednesday afternoon, which seemed to indicate that the Fed was in no hurry to lower interest rates. Then, on Friday morning, a stronger-than-anticipated Nonfarm Payrolls report drove gold to session lows under $2,025 per ounce; 90 minutes later, a worse-than-expected ISM Services PMI pushed it to session highs above $2063.
The latest Kitco News Weekly Gold Survey shows exactly half of retail investors are expecting gains for gold next week, while a full two-thirds of market analysts are taking a bullish stance on the yellow metal’s near-term prospects. Read More
Gold stuck around $2,050 as markets look for guidance on Fed cuts next week
According to many analysts, the gold market is off to a decent start after the first trading week of 2024 even as the price lost some ground as it consolidated at elevated levels between $2,000 and $2,050 an ounce.
February gold futures are ending the week around $2,050 an ounce, down 1% from last week.
According to some analysts, the market remains caught in a tug-of-war as investors try to anticipate the Federal Reserve’s next move. Markets are currently pricing in a 68% chance of the first-rate cut at the March monetary policy meeting.
However, some economists have said that after December’s employment numbers, it is unlikely that the U.S. central bank will be ready to cut rates that early in the new year. The latest employment data shows 216,000 jobs were created last month and wages grew by 0.4%. Read More
Gold prices to rise amid economic weakness and election uncertainty, silver faces downside risks to demand – Heraeus
Economic projections and political uncertainty should be supportive of higher gold prices with or without a recession, while silver could see weakening demand from its largest sectors, according to the latest precious metals report from analysts at Heraeus.
“The baseline economic outlook is generally bullish for gold,” they wrote. “There is a lingering risk of a recession in the US at some point this year. The US yield curve inversion is narrowing, and recessions do not usually start until after short-term yields have fallen back below the long-term yield. If and when a recession becomes apparent, the Fed can be expected to cut rates, likely weakening the dollar and benefitting the dollar gold price.”
The analysts noted that 2024 will be a massive election year not only in the United States but across the world, and the 76 countries going to the polls represent approximately 40% of global consumer gold demand.
“India and the US are the largest gold-consuming countries that will see a general election, with a combined demand of 655 tonnes through Q3’23,” they said. “Arguably most important for gold is the US presidential election, given the effect that a change in leadership and government policy direction can have on the dollar and global macroeconomics.” Read More
China boosts gold holdings, foreign exchange reserves in December
China's foreign exchange reserves rose 2.1 percent month-over-month to $3.238 trillion in December, a two-year-high, according to data released Sunday by China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).
The figure was above the $3.2 trillion expectation of a Reuters poll of analysts, and was also above the $3.172 trillion print for November.
SAFE said in a statement that their reserves were boosted by a decline in the U.S. dollar index and broad-based increases in global financial asset prices in December, which in turn were impacted by the monetary policies and expectations of major economies.
China also increased its gold reserves for a 14th consecutive month in December. Read More
Gold weaker as crude oil price slumps
Gold prices are down in midday U.S. trading Monday but well up from their session lows. The yellow metal hit a three-week low early on today. Amid a lack of major fresh, fundamental news to start the trading week, precious metals traders are focusing on the outside markets, and raw commodity sector leader crude sees its price sharply down. February gold was last down $10.90 at $2,038.70. March silver was last up $0.065 at $23.385.
Asian and European stock markets were mixed overnight. U.S. stock index futures are mixed at midday.
In weekend news, U.S. congressional leaders have agreed upon a bipartisan federal budget plan for the next year. The House and Senate now have about two weeks to pass the measure, which may not be easy.
The U.S. data points of the week will be the December consumer price index report on Thursday and the December producer price index report on Friday. Read More
Treasury’s Yellen says U.S. spending deal respects debt ceiling as lawmakers race to prevent shutdown
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters on Monday afternoon that she believes the top-line federal spending deal reached by congressional leaders on Sunday is consistent with last June's debt ceiling agreement, according to a Reuters report.
Yellen was speaking at the Washington headquarters of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The Treasury Secretary said she was encouraged by the deal announced on Sunday evening by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, but she didn’t know whether or not another federal government shutdown could be avoided once the current funding deal expires.
"It's a basic responsibility of Congress, of the government, to keep the government up and running," Yellen told reporters. "Americans depend on these services, and posing a threat to continued good economic performance is something that we don't need, so I'm hopeful we will not have to shut down." Read More
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Disclaimer: These articles are provided for informational purposes only. They are not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
