By 
Precious metals prices extended their move higher on Thursday, erasing declines from earlier in the week and heading back toward a near-term high reached last month.
The move comes as Treasury yields
TMUBMUSD10Y,
2.918%
and the dollar
DXY,
-0.59%
retreated, making precious metals more attractive by comparison. Jittery investors have been flocking to other safe-haven assets for safety, but precious metals have started June higher after two straight months of losses.
What is moving in metals markets
Gold for August delivery
GCQ22,
+1.27%
GC00,
+1.27%
was up 1.2% to trade at $1,871.80 per troy ounce; the yellow metal is now up 1.3% on the month.
Silver
SIN22,
+1.67%
SI00,
+1.67%
was up 1.7% to $22.28 per ounce; it was up 2.7% so far in June.
Platinum
PLN22,
+2.70%
PL00,
+2.70%
built upon its sizable gains from yesterday’s session, trading 2.7% higher to $1,023, crossing back above the psychologically important $1,000-per-ounce level.
Palladium
PAM22,
-0.22%
PA00,
+0.70%
fell 0.2% to $1987.50 per ounce.
Citi’s Aakash Doshi, a precious metals analyst, recently cut his near-term price target for gold, arguing that a confluence of factors are conspiring to keep a lid on the precious metal’s price.
“A hawkish Fed, higher real rates, and what still remain anchored medium-term inflation expectations (in both surveys and bond market pricing) have weighed on gold price momentum amid a relatively robust [U.S. dollar] backdrop. It also seems likely some geopolitical risk premium has eroded as the market absorbed the Russia/Ukraine conflict,” Doshi wrote in a note to clients.
Elsewhere, a team of analysts at Commerzbank explained why platinum prices have outperformed recently, citing expectations of increased demand from the automobile industry as a supply-chain crunch fades.
“Platinum is likely to profit from the increased demand from the automotive industry that is expected this year by market observers like Johnson Matthey and Metals Focus,” wrote Commerzbank’s Daniel Briesemann
It’s worth noting that platinum has risen on each of the last five days of trading, gaining around $50 and driving the price discount versus gold to just $850 per troy ounce, its narrowest level since March.
The outlook for industrial metals was more mixed, as prices of aluminum fell and copper climbed after a popular gauge of U.S. manufacturing activity – the S&P Global U.S. manufacturing PMI – showed activity slowing in May to a four-month low.
Here’s how industrial metals were trading
Aluminum traded on the London Metals Exchange was down 4% to roughly $2,700 per metric ton.
Copper climbed 4.9% to $4.54 per pound.
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