News Bites
Gold Sees Unexpected Rally As Trade Fears Subside — Analysts
Anna Golubova
Wednesday September 12, 2018 14:45
Kitco News
Share this article:
(Kitco News) – Gold prices are having a great day Wednesday, with prices hitting fresh daily highs and trading firmly above the $1,200 an ounce level as U.S.-China trade tensions subside.
The yellow metal received a well-deserved boost early in the session, with the U.S. dollar index pulling back to 94.74 and pushing the December Comex gold futures to $1,213.10, up 0.91% on the day.
“What we’ve seen is that gold prices have been depressed because of the angst surrounding trade fears and the repercussions on the FX markets that flow through that,” TD Securities commodity strategist Daniel Ghali told Kitco News.
“Late this early session we had some comments that the U.S. is looking to resume negotiations with China on the trade front and that has bolstered metal prices across the board,” Ghali added.
Earlier on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington has pushed for a new round of trade talks with Beijing before introducing additional tariffs against Chinese imports.
This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that his administration was getting ready to finalize an additional $200 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods.
Improving trade relations between U.S. and China is a much-needed step for gold prices, which have suffered this summer, said Kitco’s senior technical analyst Jim Wyckoff, adding that the market needs to see better precious metals demand coming from China.
“The ideas that the world’s two largest economies may be moving closer to a trade agreement can be extrapolated to mean an eventual trade agreement would produce more U.S.-China commerce and in turn see better demand for precious metals coming from China,” Wyckoff explained.
RBC Wealth Management managing director George Gero also pointed to the U.S. dollar movements as well as possible inflation on the commodity front as the reasons for gold’s gains.
“Storms in the Carolinas are reminding traders of growing area impairments of commodity-growing areas, last time PR, TX, FL, CA on fire etc., and now worse hurricane hurting crops again, possible inflation from commodity prices, as well as dollar pullback and possible new trade talks with China,” he said in a note.
On top of everything, the key U.S. economic report was also supportive of higher gold prices on Wednesday, showing that the August producer price index (PPI) missed expectations, declining 0.1% — the first decrease in one-and-a-half years.
Another good sign for gold is that analysts see this short-covering rally as sustainable.
“It appears that the market as a whole is running out of bullets on the short side. Money managers’ positions have been very much extended on the short and we’ve seen lackluster interest on the long side,” Ghali pointed out. “The commercials, which are essentially the producers, are long for the first time since 2000.”
“So these are factors that are conducive for a short-covering rally for the precious metal,” he noted.
By Anna Golubova
For Kitco News
agolubova@kitco.com
www.kitco.com
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
