Gold prices settled Monday at their lowest in a week, but held above $2,000 an ounce amid a bout of what some precious-metals analysts have described as “profit-taking.” A stronger U.S. dollar also weighed on the yellow metal.
Price action
-
Gold futures for June delivery
GC00,
-0.95% GCM23,
-0.95%
fell by $22.60, or 1.1%, to settle at $2,003.80 per ounce on Comex after tapping an intraday low of $1,996.50. Prices marked the lowest most-active contract finish since April 3, FactSet data show. -
Silver futures for May delivery
SI00,
-0.21% SIK23,
-0.21%
lost 18 cents, or 0.7%, to $24.91 an ounce. -
June palladium
PAM23,
-3.55%
dropped $54.80, or nearly 3.8%, to $1,407.60 per ounce, while July platinum
PLN23,
-1.24%
declined by $13.90, or 1.4%, to $1,002.90 per ounce. -
Copper for May delivery
HGK23,
-0.66%
fell 4 cents, or 1%, to $3.98 per pound.
Market drivers
Gold prices rose last week for the sixth week in a row. But prices declined Monday, down a third straight session, as global markets were caught in a post-Easter lull, with much of Europe still out.
Monday’s decline for gold and silver is “profit-taking and nothing else,” said Chintan Karnani, director of research at Insignia Consultants, in market commentary.
Friday’s jobs report showed that the U.S. added 236,000 new jobs in March, while the consensus forecast called for nonfarm-payrolls expansion of 238,000.
Gold fell based on the belief that the March U.S. jobs data will prompt the Federal Reserve to keep hiking interest rates, at least by a quarter point at their May meeting, said Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter, in market commentary.
“In reality, the rest of the economic data are pointing toward a significant slowdown, and providing more reasons for the Fed to pause,” he said. The next key data point will come Wednesday with the CPI report, so “I’m not expecting the volatility to go away.”
The inflation report “could just as easily send metals prices soaring,” Lundin said.
Karnani, meanwhile, expects to see an interest-rate hike “pause period” from the May Federal Open Market Committee meeting and for the rest of the year. He believes interest rates have “peaked out” globally for now. He noted that a rising energy price is the “only risk to my interest rate view.”
On Monday, gold prices weakened as the U.S. dollar strengthened. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
a measure of the buck’s strength against a basket of rivals, rose 0.5% to 102.61.
Gold and silver prices have risen sharply since the start of 2023, continuing a rally that began in the fall.
Expectations that the Fed could cut interest rates later this year sent most-active gold futures to their highest settlement in 13 months on Wednesday.
Read: Gold at $2,000: Why it took so long for the precious metal to solidly breach that key level
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