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Gold prices headed higher after a three-session decline, while recession fears contributed to copper’s fall to its lowest prices since February 2021.
What are prices doing ?
August gold
GCQ22,
-0.42%
GC00,
-0.42%
rose $7.20, or 0.4%, to $1,845.60 per ounce.
July silver
SIN22,
-1.92%
SI00,
-1.92%
tacked on 4.9 cents, or 0.2%, to trade at $21.47 per ounce.
Platinum
PLN22,
-2.32%
for July delivery fell $3.30, or 0.4%, to $923.60 per ounce.
Palladium
PAU22,
-0.92%
prices for September delivery climbed $15.60, or 0.9%, to $1,853.50 per ounce.
July copper
HGN22,
-5.20%
fell 10.1 cents, or 2.6%, to $3.843 a pound, with prices based on the most-active contract looking to mark another settlement at the lowest in about 16 months, FactSet data show.
What analysts are saying
Gold prices gave up early losses to move higher in the wake of data showing a sharp slowdown in U.S. economic growth in June. The S&P flash U.S. manufacturing PMI dropped to a nearly two-year low of 52.4 while the S&P U.S. services index declined to a five-month low of 51.6.
“Rising confidence in the [Federal Reserve’s] ability to rein in inflation is fueling recession worries and buoying traditional safe havens such as gold, especially given the historical drop in cryptocurrencies of late,” analysts at Sevens Report Research wrote in Thursday’s newsletter.
“Looking ahead, gold could hold above key support at $1,810 if the dollar and yields both level off,” they said. “However, if market expectations get materially more hawkish, expect gold to test that support and potentially break to new lows for the year.”
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday conceded that a recession in the U.S. was “certainly a possibility,” although he insisted the Fed wasn’t deliberately trying to provoke one. Powell was testifying before the House Financial Services Committee Thursday.
Copper prices, meanwhile, headed lower for a second straight session.
The metal’s “latest leg lower, and lack of participation in this week’s bounce in across risk assets, underscores the growing concerns about the global economy,” said analysts at Sevens Report Research in Thursday’s newsletter.
Other markets
West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery
CLQ22,
-1.30%
shed 1% to $105.12 a barrel.
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
+0.28%,
a measure of the greenback’s strength against a basket of rivals, advanced 0.1%.
The 10-year Treasury yield
TMUBMUSD10Y,
3.057%
was off 12 basis points at 3.04%.
U.S. stocks moved higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.24%
up 85 points.
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