Gold fell 2% on Thursday, hitting a near one-month low, after a U.S.-China trade agreement boosted risk appetite and diminished bullion’s appeal as a safe-haven asset.
Spot gold fell 2% to $3,261.28 per ounce by 0934 a.m. EDT (1334 GMT), its lowest level since May 29. Bullion was down for a second straight week, slipping 3.2% so far
U.S. gold futures dropped 2.2% to $3,272.90.
Spot silver slipped 2% to $35.88 and was set to fall for the week.
Palladium fell 0.8% to $1,122.77, but was headed for weekly gains. Platinum eased 6.5% to $1,325.48, and headed for a fourth consecutive weekly rise.
Source – Reuters
Gold has reached new all-time highs, and the gold-to-silver ratio now exceeds 90:1. Such a high ratio has often signaled an impending breakout for silver prices. It indicates that silver could be undervalued, and we may be on the verge of a major price surge. Sometimes, if you miss a price run-up for gold, you can make up for it by buying silver instead as it catches up to its yellow cousin.
Source – Seeking Alpha / SchiffGold
Goldman Sachs says U.S. net copper imports could rise by 50%-100% in the coming months due to higher U.S. prices before the Trump administration’s planned tariffs, which the bank believes will be imposed at 25% and lead to the surge in imports and a 200K-300K-ton increase in U.S. copper inventories by the end of Q3.
“We maintain our forecast that the LME month-month price will average $10,200/ton in 2024 Q3, and see the impact of inventory dislocation predominantly in timespreads,” the bank writes.
Source – Seeking Alpha
US President Donald Trump went ahead with 50% tariffs on copper imports but exempted refined metals, which are the mainstay of international trading. The move triggered a record plunge for US prices after a period of fat profits for traders who hurried metal to America before the levies kicked in. A large premium for New York futures over London evaporated.
“The blow-out in the CME-LME spread has been touted as one of the most profitable commodity trades in modern history,” Daniel Ghali of TD Securities Inc. wrote in a note. “In a single session, the White House’s proclamation on copper tariffs annihilated the spread and catalyzed CME copper’s largest intraday fall on record.”
Copper futures on Comex in New York fell by 22% as traders recalibrated the value of metal in the US versus the rest of the world.
Source – Bloomberg
Shares of Aya Gold & Silver were down Friday after the company reported lower silver production than analysts expected in the fourth quarter.
The stock retreated 15% to 10.85 Canadian dollars ($7.58).
Silver production in the fourth quarter totaled 491,310 ounces, compared with 450,046 ounces in the same period a earlier.
Source – Market Watch
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
