Gold and silver prices are down in early U.S. trading Thursday, on some profit taking from recent gains and a downside technical correction—both of which are not unexpected. In fact, it can be argued that for a price uptrend to be sustained, it must have healthy downside corrections. Gold prices hit a 10-month high on Wednesday.
April gold futures were last down $10.00 an ounce at $1,337.90. March Comex silver was last down $0.277 at $15.90 an ounce.
Asian and European stock markets were mixed overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward slightly higher openings when the New York day session begins. The U.S. stock indexes remain in near-term price uptrends and they are near their recent 2.5-month highs.
There are new reports out today that the ongoing U.S.-China trade talks, taking place this week in Washington, D.C., are going well. That’s allowing a bit more trader and investor risk appetite to be present in the marketplace. Reuters reported late Wednesday that U.S. and China officials are outlining a deal to end the trade war. The report said agreements in principle are being drawn up in six major areas. Reports also said U.S. President Trump and Chinese President Jinping may hold a summit in March to finalize the deal.
The marketplace has mostly digested the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes, released Wednesday afternoon. The minutes expressed some more concern regarding risks to U.S. economic growth, which the Fed says has moderated in recent months. The Fed saw few risks in leaving U.S. monetary policy steady, at present. The minutes also said the Fed will exercise “patience” on future interest rate hikes. Markets showed no significant price reactions to the report.
In overnight news, the European Union received some more downbeat economic news when the February manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 49.2 versus expectations for a reading of 50.5. A number below 50.0 suggests contraction in the sector.
The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index near steady after seeing a corrective pullback this week after hitting a two-month high last Friday. Nymex crude oil prices are firmer and hit another three-month overnight, and are trading around $57.50 a barrel.
U.S. economic reports due for release Thursday include the weekly jobless claims report, durable goods orders, the Philadelphia Fed business survey, the U.S. flash services and manufacturing purchasing managers’ indexes, leading economic indicators, existing home sales and the weekly DOE liquid energy stocks report.
Posted by :
Jack Dempsey, President
401 Gold Consultants LLC
jdemp2003@gmail.com