Precious Metals market

Gold was up nearly 1.3% by late afternoon trading in London, near $2040 while silver was closing in on the $25.00 level. The precious metals have been supported by two factors: Bond yields and US dollar, both falling.

Gold and silver should remain supported on the dips amid peak interest rates narrative, with the latter likely to be more active given that we are in a positive market environment with stocks also rising.

US inflation turned out to be weaker than expected on both the headline and core fronts, and the market’s response was a swift one. We saw gold and silver rise, as yields and the dollar dropped, while index futures jumped with the pace of the rally gaining further momentum once the cash markets opened on Wall Street.

Markets have been very quiet in the last couple of days, with the lack of any major data causing stocks to drift higher, extending their recent trend, while the dollar has drifted back higher following last week’s data-driven sell-off. As a result, gold and silver have weakened so far this week. But are we now going to see a recovery?

Precious metals prices have weakened over the last couple of weeks, following gold’s impressive +7% gains in October, and silver’s not-so-impressive 3% rise. Last month’s gains for gold were mostly driven by safe-haven demand as the flare up in the Middle East conflict saw investors rush out of risk-sensitive assets.

Gold enjoyed its best month in seven in October, with its 7.3% rise forming a clear bullish engulfing candle and was its third best month of the year. Whether it can extend its rally and make a run for a new record high remains to be seen, but we have seen gold failed around the $2075 highs three times since 2020. What would be so different this time?

Precious metals have stood out in the past two weeks and today saw gold hit levels last seen in May and silver reached its best level since September. The yellow metal was about $7 shy of the $2K mark at the time of writing. With gold breaking above the July high of $1987, the key question is can it hold above here, or do we quickly go back below it?

Gold was able to climb in the last two days of last week despite the US dollar and bond yields pushing higher. The precious metal gained ground on Friday as stocks reversed their earlier gains to close lower before falling further today. In other words, the metal has been supported by haven flows in the last few sessions. Gold was attempting to gain further ground today, but unsurprisingly was struggling to do so.

Gold was lower earlier, but after nearing the key $1900 level it has bounced back to turn positive. The gains are probably driven in part by short-side profit taking and after the ECB signalled it is done with rate hikes, earlier. XAUUSD was still below its 200-day average, which means it is at risk of suffering renewed falls should the US dollar extend its gains further, after rising for 8 consecutive weeks against a basket of foreign currencies.

So, the inflation battle continues for the Fed as we the latest CPI data come in stronger. This should keep the dollar supported against currencies where the central bank is expected to turn dovish. The likes of the euro and pound come to mind. Gold and possibly stocks may also struggle as the renewed surge in inflation may force the Fed to hike interest rates perhaps one more time before the end of the year.

Earlier, gold managed to recoup some of its weekly losses as it found support on the back of slight weakness for the dollar and bond yields. However, at the time of writing, it was coming noticeably off its earlier highs and threatening to turn red. It looks like the earlier recovery was driven by short-covering. Overall, the current market environment is not too supportive for gold, and not a lot has changed today.

Despite competing with the strength of the dollar, gold has been trading higher against all other major currencies since its low in August. This could suggest that gold is acting as a safe haven, even if it is not immediately obvious from the XAU/USD chart.

Gold hit its lowest level since June at just above $1900, before bouncing off its lows. The metal has been coming under pressure in recent months because of several reasons, but mainly due to long-dated bond yields remaining elevated is Europe and US, and the fact that the dollar has been trending higher in the last 4 weeks or so.

The opportunity cost of holding gold over bonds fell slightly with yields declining, brightening the gold outlook a touch.

On Wednesday, the gold outlook dimmed further as investors assessed the main message coming from this week's Sintra conference – that more policy tightening is on the way – and decided to punish the metal further.

Our long-term bullish gold outlook received a boost today as fresh doubts were cast over a June Fed rate hike.