Gold inches higher on trade war concerns

Bullion edged 0.2% lower to around $2,750 an ounce, roughly just $40 short of its all-time high and still set for a fourth straight weekly gain.

The president has identified China, the EU, Canada and Mexico as potential targets for import levies, though there is uncertainty over whether he will follow through with the threats. 

Gold traded at 2,751.44 an ounce as of 10:48 a.m. in London. Silver, platinum and palladium fell. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was relatively unchanged.

Source – Bloomberg

“Gold is an asset that is able to preserve value under the biggest variety of macroeconomic dislocations that we have seen,” said Thomas Kertsos, co-portfolio manager at First Eagle Investment Management LLC. “We’ve seen that over centuries gold has been able to — despite the volatility — always mean-revert and always maintain its purchasing power, all while providing significant liquidity.”

“You’ve got huge uncertainty coming out of US policy that’s also just casting its shade over the global economy this year,” said Ian Samson, a multi-asset portfolio manager at Fidelity in Singapore.

The foundations for the gold rally were partly set by global central banks’ wariness of relying heavily on the US dollar, also a reflection of geopolitical uncertainty.

Source – Bloomberg

Rally – is a period of sustained increases in the prices of related indexes. In this case we are talking about gold.

Major stock indexes rallied, the dollar gained against the euro and other currencies while safe-haven gold dropped on Wednesday as investors grew optimistic about a possible de-escalation in the trade war between the U.S. and China.

“There seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel here in terms of the trade war,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.

The euro was last down 0.36% against the dollar at $1.1379. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.49% to 142.28.

U.S. Treasury yields declined after the U.S. administration’s signal of a potential respite in the U.S.-China trade war and Trump’s softening stance on Powell.

Source – Reuters