Asian and European shares were mixed to weaker in trading overnight. U.S. stock indexes are set to open higher on corrective bounces following Friday’s big sell offs.
German stocks rose as investors cheered a win by German conservative leader Friedrich Merz in Sunday’s elections.
The Euro zone January consumer price index came in at up 2.5%, year-on-year, which was right in line with market expectations.
Source – KITCO News
The red metal, along with pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber, earns an exemption from “reciprocal” tariffs on most goods entering the U.S.
Referred to in a White House fact sheet as “responsive tariffs,” President Trump spells out the rationale for and specific examples of other nations’ tariffs in that April 2 fact sheet, fully titled “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Declares National Emergency to Increase our Competitive Edge, Protect our Sovereignty, and Strengthen our National and Economic Security.”
“Some goods will not be subject to the Reciprocal Tariff”
“Copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber articles”
Source – Recycling Today
South Africa’s rand strengthened on Monday, as gold hit a fresh high and optimism grew over the prospect of an agreement between the two biggest government partners on the budget.
At 0728 GMT, the rand traded at 18.2375 against the dollar, about 1.1% stronger than its previous close.
Gold prices touched an all-time high on Monday as investors stressing over a global trade war and economic slowdown from the world’s biggest economy turned towards the safe-haven asset. South Africa is a major producer of the precious metal.
Source – Reuters
Vicuña Corp, a joint venture of Australia’s BHP and Canada’s Lundin Mining (LUN.TO), opens new tab, on Thursday said it was extending the useful life of its Josemaria copper, gold and silver project in Argentina by six years.
It attributed the longer useful life of the mine, now 25 years instead of 19 years previously, to higher levels of exploitable resources.
Vicuña also predicted an ore processing rate at the site, located in Argentina’s north-western San Juan province, near the Chilean border, at 175,000 metric tons per day.
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
“Any country with gold reserves should be holding at least 11% of that amount in bitcoin reserves,” Armstrong posted to X in response to criticism of Trump’s plan for a national bitcoin reserve. “And I believe in the next five to 10 years bitcoin’s market cap will likely surpass gold. So these reserves should grow to exceed gold.”
“We’re gonna do something great with crypto because we don’t want China, or anybody else … but others are embracing it, and we want to be ahead,” Trump told CNBC.
Source – Forbes
The stock climbed 12% on Friday, its steepest one-day gain in nearly two months, outperforming the benchmark Kospi index’s 0.85% rise.
The extraordinary shareholders’ meeting had initially been called by private-equity firm MBK Partners and Korea Zinc’s major shareholder Young Poong, which have teamed up and increased their combined stake to more than 40% since September for control of the smelter, to reshape its board and management led by Chairman Yun B. Choi.
Source – The Wall Street Journal
The United States Mint establishes pricing on numismatic gold coins via its pricing grid, and updates were published July 1 in the Federal Register.
The LBMA closing spot price of gold per troy ounce June 30 was $3,287.45. If the average spot price were to remain at that level until the week of sales opening, the pricing grid predicts that the Mint would set the opening sale price at $2,150 for the Sacagawea 25th Anniversary half-ounce gold dollar and at $2,650 for the Superman half-ounce gold $50 coin.
Source – Coin World
LBMA – London Bullion Market Association is a whole sale market for trading precious metals. Gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.
