News

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    Silver jewelry demand increasing

    Industrial silver demand set a record last year, but despite the increase in offtake, overall silver offtake declined by 3 percent to 1.16 billion ounces, primarily due to weak investment demand.

    Silver jewelry demand grew by 3 percent to 208.7 million ounces in 2024.

    The Silver Institute reported that improving exports to key Western countries also lifted silver jewelry demand.

    Growth in demand for silver jewelry will likely contribute to increasing overall demand, putting further pressure on already limited silver supplies.

    Source – Money Metals

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    Gold and Silver up, weak dollar

    Spot gold gained 0.8% to $3,340.53 an ounce as of 0300 GMT, after hitting its highest level since May 9.

    U.S. gold futures rose 0.9% to $3,341.90.

    “Gold’s bullish reversal is supported by a weaker U.S. dollar and lingering stagflation risks in the U.S. economy,” said Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst, Asia Pacific at OANDA.

    Spot silver rose 0.5% to $33.54 an ounce, platinum gained 0.1% to $1,077.33 and palladium lost 0.6% to $1,031.46.

    Source – Reuters

  • Trump Gold card will be launching in soon

    U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday that the Trump Gold Card, which makes it possible for any foreigner to buy a visa for $5 million, will be available online within weeks.

    “The details of that will come soon after, but people can start to register. And all that will come over a matter of the next weeks — not month, weeks,” Lutnick said.

    Source – FOX News

    I have only recently seen the amount of news on this topic and was intrigued. Please let me know if this is a topic that you would like to see more of as I will just post more on this and write a piece on it. -V

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    Copper at record high $11,633 a ton

    Unusually large shipments of copper to the United States are unlikely to abate as long as the threat of tariffs hangs over the market and price premiums for the metal on U.S.-based COMEX make deals profitable for traders and producers, analysts said.

    COMEX copper hit a record high at $11,633 a metric ton on March 26, creating a premium of more than $1,570 a ton against the benchmark contract on the London Metal Exchange.

    “We expect 250,000-300,000 tons of extra copper will be shipped to the U.S. over March-May because of the spread and amid the uncertainties regarding the tariff,” said Sharon Ding, head of China basic materials at UBS Investment Research.

    “It’s possible we’ll see more atypical cargos in the second half of May,” Kpler analyst Ben Ayre said. “While the COMEX price continues to run at a premium to the LME there’s a strong incentive to land refined copper in the United States.”

    Source – Reuters

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    Silver price strengthens dollar

    Silver price (XAG/USD) hits a fresh weekly high to near $33.20 during North American trading hours on Wednesday. The white metal strengthens as the US Dollar (USD) extends its downside on the United States (US) credit rating erosion in the wake of large debt levels and escalated fiscal imbalances.

    Technically, a soft US Dollar makes the Silver price a value bet for investors. Additionally, concerns over US credit erosion improve the safe-haven demand of non-yielding assets, such as Silver.

    Source – FX Street

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    Gold on week high, Silver up 1%

    Gold prices rose for a third straight session on Wednesday and hit a one-week high, helped by a softer dollar and safe-haven demand amid economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

    Spot gold was up 0.7% at $3,312.51 an ounce, as of 1153 ET (1553 GMT). U.S. gold futures climbed 0.9% to $3,315.60.

    “We expect gold’s recent price dip will stimulate investment buying, as macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty linger,” said ANZ in a note.

    Silver rose 1% to $33.40 an ounce.

    Platinum was up 2.1% at $1,075.59 after hitting its highest since May 2024 earlier. Palladium added 1.8% to $1,031.05, an over six-month peak.

    Source – Reuters

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    Gold gains, Dollar slipped

    Gold futures posted their second consecutive strong gain on Tuesday, rising 3% in the two days since Moody’s downgraded its U.S. credit rating and amplified concerns over the debt and deficit spending.

    The dollar slipped again, weighed down in part by cautious remarks about the economy by Federal Reserve officials and by President Trump’s failure so far to convince Republican holdouts in the U.S. House to support his sweeping tax and spending bill.

    “Investors are reassessing the long-term outlook for U.S. sovereign risk. As such, safe-haven assets like gold could experience heightened demand,” Quasar Elizunda of Pepperstone said in a note.

    Source – Seeking Alpha

    Moody’s Corporation – (MCO) a New York-based company that owns Moody’s Investors Service that rates creditworthiness of companies, governments, and fixed income debt securities, and Moody’s Analytics.

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    U.S. Copper tariffs cause relocation of metal

    U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened tariff on copper imports has generated a mass relocation of physical metal, swamping the U.S. market and draining the rest of the world.

    The physical response has been so powerful that it has caused the futures arbitrage between the CME contract and the London Metal Exchange (LME) price to collapse.

    CME copper inventory has risen by 81% since the start of the year and is now at an eight-year high of 168,563 short tons (152,919 metric tons).

    LME copper inventory has slumped to a one-year low of 179,375 tons, with 40% of what remains awaiting physical load-out.

    China’s imports of refined copper fell 5% on a year-over-year basis and 20% on a quarter-over-quarter basis in the January-March period as metal was diverted to the U.S.

    Source – Reuters

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    Gold prices down after trade truce

    Gold prices have fallen almost 10% from a record high just above $3,500 per ounce in April as a de-escalation in U.S.-China trade tensions punctured momentum, but analysts are sticking with a bullish outlook due to strong underlying support for the metal.

    Spot gold was trading around $3,180 an ounce on Friday, leaving prices on track for their worst week in six months.

    “Gold prices are more likely to rise than to fall from this stage onwards as other factors like central bank demand and very strong investor demand from China are not going away anytime soon,” said Nitesh Shah, commodities strategist at WisdomTree.

    Source – Reuters