It appears that the Federal Reserve is on hold when it comes to moving interest rates until midyear, said Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals. But “most of the other major central banks remain in easing mode, providing an additional tailwind for gold.” Ongoing trade and geopolitical uncertainty suggest upside potential to the psychologically important $3,000 level, he said.
Source – Market Watch
Follow up on Kentucky considers bill to entice gold and silver investors
House Bill 2, introduced last week by Rep. T.J. Roberts, R-Burlington, and backed by several other GOP representatives, would void a controversial line-item budget veto by Beshear last year that prevented state lawmakers from exempting “bullion currency” — or gold and silver coins — from taxation.
The proposed bill would also give people who have paid sales taxes on gold and silver since August — when the exemption was set to take effect — the power to use the courts to seek a refund along with $1,000 for “each day that the violation occurred,” paid by the governor’s office.
Source – Louisville Courier-Journal
“Over the last 12 months, the value of their reserves or the value of the gold in their reserves was five times the amount by which their reserves increased,” Thompson stated, emphasizing the significant shift in China’s gold holdings.
Thompson also highlighted the unique dynamics of the silver market. “We’ve seen year after year the volume of silver… being produced by the mines going down,” he explained.
Source – The Jerusalem Post
Trump announced 25% tariffs on all vehicles and foreign-made auto parts imported into the United States late on Wednesday, prompting heavy losses in Japanese and South Korean stocks in Asian trading overnight.
General Motors slumped 6%, while shares in Ford fell almost 5%, reflecting concerns about the impact on their supply chains.
“Uncertainty on the tariff front remains high, which is really tough for both businesses but also investors to plan into the future, and of course it’s making it really difficult for investors to price risk,” said Baylee Wakefield, a multi-asset portfolio manager at Aviva Investors.
Gold prices rose, up 0.7% on the day at $3,040 an ounce. Goldman Sachs raised its gold price forecast on Wednesday, citing stronger-than-expected ETF inflows and sustained central bank demand.
Source – Reuters
A contested mine in Central Idaho that will produce gold and antimony earned the U.S. Forest Service’s final approval following a lengthy environmental review and objections from the Nez Perce Tribe, which will lose access for decades to federal lands guaranteed by a U.S. treaty.
“This approval elevates the Stibnite Gold Project to an elite class of projects in America that have cleared NEPA,” Jon Cherry, Pepetua’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
“The tribe’s treaties with the United States are the supreme law of the land and remain binding,”
Source – Idaho Statesman
President Donald Trump is taking a step toward granting the U.S. mining industry’s biggest wishes by singling out one metal as a focus of his domestic minerals policy: copper.
From talk of acquiring Greenland and its vast mineral wealth to prodding Ukraine for minerals in exchange for help fending off Russia’s invasion, Trump has made the raw materials of modern life a pillar of his foreign policy.
“Copper is, I think, the metal that is really the most critical because it is the electricity metal,” said Debra Struhsacker, a mining industry policy consultant. “The electricity demand is, I think, going to stay. And copper is indispensable for that.”
“Made in America, America first, starts with American mining and American miners that supported this president across the country,” National Mining Association president and CEO Rich Nolan said.
Source – The Associated Press