Gold Opens Lower on Revived China Trade, Still up 10% For June

(Kitco, Monday, July 1st, 2019) Gold prices are solidly lower but off their overnight lows in early U.S. trading Monday. Weekend geopolitical events have assuaged the world marketplace and have pushed global stock markets higher. That’s bearish for safe-haven gold. August gold futures were last down $17.90 an ounce at 1,395.10. July Comex silver prices were last down $0.008 at $15.245 an ounce.

Asian and European stock markets were mostly higher overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward solidly higher openings when the New York day session begins. The U.S. indexes today are at or near record highs amid the keener risk appetite among traders and investors worldwide.

The weekend Group of 20 meetings taking place in Japan featured a face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Trump and Chinese President Xi regarding their trade war. That meeting saw the U.S. back off on some of its threatened sanctions, while China said it would buy more U.S. agricultural products, and both sides agreed to restart trade negotiations. This was deemed a positive by the marketplace, but most agree much heavy lifting needs to be done to get a complete and final U.S.-China trade agreement.

Also, President Trump made a surprise visit to North Korea over the weekend and met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The U.S. and North Korea said they would resume talks on North Korea’s nuclear program.

China’s June official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 49.4 points, unchanged from May and in contraction territory. Expectations had been the number would inch higher to 49.5. The reading reflected slowing factory output and new orders.