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Silver Price News: Silver Range Bound Amid Cautious Mood
Silver prices pulled back on Tuesday from recent highs above $29.00 an ounce, after US figures showed stronger than expected retail sales in March.
Prices touched a low of $27.99 an ounce on Tuesday, before regaining some ground to trade at around $28.40 an ounce by late afternoon. That compared with around $28.95 an ounce in late trades on Monday.
Silver touched a high of over $29.50 an ounce on Friday, but the market has since taken a more cautious stance. Silver’s price action took a lead from gold prices, which were more stable on Tuesday as the markets took a breather after recent all-time highs.
US figures released Monday showed that retail sales were higher than expected in March, and this prompted a rise in treasury yields as well as a dialling back of expectations on the number of interest rate cuts by the US Fed this year. The markets had been expecting three cuts in 2024 but now appear to expect only two, with ongoing uncertainty over when the first of those will materialise.
Taken together, the latest macroeconomic figures prompted a halt to the recent rally for gold and silver, leaving prices range bound on Tuesday. Read More
Gold Price News: Gold Rally Halts as Treasury Yields Rise
Gold prices were broadly steady on Tuesday, as the recent rally to all-time highs was tempered by US economic data, which pushed treasury yields higher.
Gold touched a low of $2,365 an ounce during the day, but picked up slightly to trade at $2,393 an ounce later in the afternoon session. That compares with around $2,386 an ounce in late trades on Monday.
US retail sales figures released Monday came in well above expectations for March, helping to drive yields on US 10-year treasury notes to a five-month-high. Treasury yields continued to make further gains on Tuesday, and this helped to stem gold’s rally, keeping the price relatively stable after a surge higher over March and the first half of April that saw the yellow metal hit fresh all-time highs of over $2,400 an ounce.
However, gold prices also remain supported by heightened geopolitical tensions as Israel’s war cabinet met to discuss a response to an Iranian drone and missile attack on the country that was seen as a retaliation for a recent bombing of an Iranian consulate building in Syria which killed high-ranking military figures. Read More
Gold pauses as marketplace remains pensive
Gold prices are modestly lower and have traded both sides of unchanged, while silver prices are higher in U.S. trading Wednesday. Both markets are in a pause mode as tentative traders and investors ponder the next development in the volatile Middle East. June gold was last down $6.50 at $2,401.70. May silver was last up $0.249 at $28.635.
The heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East—namely the IranIsrael hostilities—have taken center stage in the general marketplace. Traders and investors have temporarily pushed supply and demand and economic fundamentals to the back burner and are keenly focused on the next shoe to drop in the Israel-Iran military confrontation. Such is evidenced by gold and silver markets rallying on safe-haven buying recently, despite normally bearish fundamentals at present that include rising U.S. Treasury yields, a rallying U.S. dollar index and a hawkish leaning Federal Reserve.
Technically, June gold futures bulls have the strong overall near-term technical advantage. A two-month-old uptrend is in place on the daily bar chart. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $2,500.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $2,300.00. First resistance is seen at $2,425.00 and then at the contract high of $2,448.80. First support is seen at today’s low of $2,389.00 and then at Tuesday’s low of $2,379.20. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 9.0.
Image Source: Kitco News
May silver futures bulls have the strong overall near-term technical advantage. A two-month-old price uptrend is in place on the daily bar chart. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $30.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $26.00. First resistance is seen at this week’s high of $29.10 and then at $29.50. Next support is seen at $28.00 and then at this week’s low of $27.665. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 8.5. Read More
Image Source: Kitco News
China saw wholesale gold demand fall in March, but investors continue to buy at sky-high prices – WGC
Gold’s recent all-time high prices were even more dramatic in China’s local currency, and while this dampened jewelry demand last month, Chinese investors continue to see high prices as a positive, according to the latest report from Ray Jia, Head of Research for China at the World Gold Council (WGC).
Jia noted that Chinese gold prices ended Q1 strong, as the afternoon Shanghai Gold Benchmark price (SHAUPM) in yuan rose by 10% in March, outstripping the 8% gains of the morning LBMA Gold Price in USD.
“While the LBMA Gold Price AM saw the largest increase in 12 months, the SHAUPM in RMB rose the most since August 2019 helped by a weaker local currency,” he wrote. “Drivers such as strong investment demand for gold globally, elevated geopolitical risks and investor positioning in the futures market contributed to gold’s strength.”
The strong March performance boosted gold’s Q1 return in yuan to 10%, outperforming other major assets such as global stock markets and other commodities. “And the attractive return, uncertainties in the property sector and concerns for the local currency have elevated local investor appetite for gold so far in 2024,” Jia said. Read More
Silver to see second-highest deficit in 20 years, as record industrial demand rises 9% in 2024 - Silver Institute’s World Silver Survey
Silver prices remain well-supported at elevated levels as robust demand continues to outweigh supply, creating a further drawdown in above-ground stocks, according to the latest research from the Silver Institute.
On Wednesday, the Silver Institute released its annual World Silver Survey, which was conducted by UK-based research firm Metals Focus.
Metals Focus noted that industrial demand continues to dominate the silver market and is expected to hit another record high this year, rising 9% to 710.9 million ounces, propelled by the solar sector as silver demand for Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels rises 20% to 232 million ounces. Read More
Gold’s unusual rally leaves silver price lagging, but it could still catch up – CME Group’s Norland
Gold prices have seen an atypical rally in the face of shrinking rate cut expectations, while silver has largely been left behind, according to the latest report from Erik Norland, Executive Director and Chief Economist of CME Group.
“Gold has soared to new record highs in April,” Norland wrote. “Meanwhile, silver has rallied but it's far from its all time high.”
Norland pointed out that gold prices usually do the opposite of what interest rate expectations do. “When bond traders expect more rate cuts, gold typically rallies,” he said. “When they expect fewer rate cuts, or more rate hikes, gold usually falls.”
“In the past couple of months however, gold has rallied despite Fed Funds futures depricing many of the cuts that traders had previously expected for 2024.”
Norland asked why gold has rallied while rate cut expectations have declined from six potential cuts down to only two or three. “It appears that one or more large investors has taken a long position in out of the money call options on gold, sometimes with strike prices as high as $3,000 per ounce,” he wrote, “perhaps positioning themselves either for large rate cuts that are not currently anticipated by bond traders or for increased geopolitical instability.” Read More
Buckle up because the gold price is going to $3000, says Dennis Gartman
The gold price continues to consolidate around $2,400 an ounce as it recovers from last week’s volatility selloff from a record intra-day high; however, one market strategist said that gold still has plenty of upside momentum left.
In an exclusive interview with Kitco News, famed commodity investor Dennis Gartman said that gold did suffer some near-term technical damage last week as the market sold off sharply after hitting a record high above $2,448 an ounce; however, he added that the precious metal has embarked on a multi-year bull market.
“Gold goes a lot farther from here. I look for gold to hit $3,000 an ounce in the next couple of years,” he said.
Gartman said he is bullish on gold because of the breadth of its record run. While investors pay attention to gold in U.S. dollar terms, Gartman pointed out that it is making record highs against the Swiss franc, the euro, the British pound, the Japanese yen, the Canadian dollar, and the Chinese yuan, just to name a few. Read More
Gold prices decline as focus shifts to Fed officials’ restrictive policy statements
Image Source: Kitco News
Gold futures declined today after Chairman Powell spoke about a change regarding interest rate cuts this year, saying that the fight to tame inflation has appeared to have stalled. Because of that, central bankers need more confidence that inflation was on track to decline to its 2% target. Chairman Powell along with other Fed officials said that it is most likely that the Federal Reserve will maintain the current Fed funds rates which are between 5 ¼% and 5 ½% for longer.
Not all economists agreed with the way the Fed has communicated its changes to the public. Ian Shepherdson, the chief economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics said, "For the record, we think delaying rate cuts is a mistake, and the risk of an unwanted recession is rising. But we don't have our hands on the policy levers." 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.
