Fed Likely to Hold Rates in 2025
Gold has benefited from geopolitical uncertainty and central bank demand, but a prolonged period of restrictive Fed policy presents risks.
Source – FXEMPIRE
Miner Freeport-McMoRan (FCX.N), beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit on Wednesday, as higher copper and gold prices helped offset lower production.
The company’s shares rose 1.6% to $40.54 in pre-market trade.
Freeport could be a big beneficiary, seeing as much as $1.6-billion boost to annual profit, given its position as the largest U.S. producer with more expansion options than rivals.
Freeport, which supplies about 70% of U.S. refined copper, said it expects to sell 1.3 billion pounds from its domestic mines in 2025.
Source – Reuters
Gold prices slipped more than 1% on Tuesday, as optimism over trade deals between U.S. and its trading partners weighed on safe-haven flows, with a firmer U.S. dollar and rising Treasury yields adding further pressure.
Spot gold eased 0.8% to $3,307.16 per ounce, as of 01:49 p.m. EDT (1749 GMT), after hitting its lowest in over one week earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures settled 0.8% lower at $3,316.9.
“Focus is on trade as the July 9 deadline nears, with the Trump administration ramping up pressure. But some optimism related to trade deals is fuelling risk-on sentiment, keeping gold subdued,” said Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals.
Spot silver lost 0.3% to $36.64 per ounce, platinum dropped 0.8% to $1,359.90, while palladium was flat at $1,111.36.
Source – Reuters
Gold prices edged higher on Wednesday as a weaker dollar and simmering trade tension between the United States and China lifted demand for the safe-haven metal.
Spot gold was up 0.1% at $3,355.46 an ounce, as of 0836 GMT. U.S. gold futures edged 0.1% higher to $3,379.80.
“I think we are seeing the same concerns around trade talks, not much progress and that is adding to uncertainty over where tariffs will land, and that’s driving gold prices right now,” said Nitesh Shah, commodities strategist at WisdomTree.
Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping is tough and “extremely hard to make a deal with,” days after the U.S. President accused China of violating an agreement to roll back tariffs and trade restrictions.
Spot silver fell 0.2% to $34.44 an ounce, platinum rose 0.9% to $1,083.22 and palladium lost 0.4% to $1,006.49.
Source – Reuters
“Copper is like the second most important thing the Defense Department uses in order to make its weapons systems. And we’re in a situation now where worldwide there’s a glut of copper,” Navarro told Schmitt. “There’s a dumping of copper into our markets. And we’ve lost our ability to both smelt copper, which is taking the ore and getting the raw copper and refine it into the products we need. And it’s a serious thing.”
Source – Independent Journal Review
Spot gold added 0.4% to $2,755.2 per ounce as of 02:29 p.m. ET (1629 GMT). Prices were at their highest since Oct. 31 when they hit their all-time high of $2,790.15.
“There are uncertainties with proposed tariffs and other things, and gold typically does well when there’s a large or even a moderate amount of uncertainty in the market, it’s a natural place where people gravitate to,” said Ryan McIntyre, senior portfolio manager at Sprott Asset Management
“(Trump) has been perhaps just a shade less hawkish on tariffs as feared, which helps — less/lower tariffs is taken to indicate lower inflation hence potential for more rate cuts,” said Tai Wong, an independent metals trader.
Source – Reuters
Despite the losses of the last few days, the Copper price on the Comex is up a good 25 percent since the beginning of the year, almost on a par with tin. But on the LME, too, Copper is trading around 10 percent higher than at the beginning of the year, Commerzbank’s commodity analyst Barbara Lambrecht notes.
Source – FX Street