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
“We’re going to need to see continued progress on inflation in order to bring back those interest rate cut expectations,” said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures.
“People are a little bit nervous, and they want to be cautious going into CPI tomorrow,” he added.
Source – Reuters
US tariffs on copper imports may be coming within weeks, months earlier than Donald Trump’s original deadline for a decision, according to people familiar. He’s previously threatened a duty of 25% on one of the world’s most important metals—and it’s hurting American factories already. The price of copper traded in New York jumped to a record high. Keep on top of the latest with our tariff tracker.
Source – Bloomberg
President Trump and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have now targeted the San Francisco Mint for closure in a bid to sell the real estate on which the National Register of Historic Places structure stands, theoretically to reduce government expenses.
Mint-wide, the bureau has already trimmed more than 100 full-time staffers, with an edict from DOGE to trim another 200, while the bureau wrestles with vacancies, some of which still need to be filled. Many of the positions trimmed were resolved through resignations and retirements.
Closing the San Francisco Mint could affect the production of many numismatic products, such as Proof sets, silver Proof sets, Proof commemorative coins and Matte silver presidential medals.
Source – Coin World
U.S. President Donald Trump sprang a double surprise on the copper market when he announced import tariffs of 50% effective next month.
The August 1 start date signals the end of the race to ship physical metal to the United States to capture the tariff arbitrage.
A lucky few with cargoes already afloat may yet cross the finishing line in time, but the physical tariff trade is rapidly unwinding.
The LME benchmark spread is now in a comfortable contango of $66 per ton, compared with a backwardation of more than $300 per ton at the end of June.
Source – Reuters
Proposed designs for a half-ounce .9999 fine gold Sacagawea dollar to be issued in 2025 by the United States Mint, to recognize the 25th anniversary of the 2000 release into circulation of the manganese-brass clad Sacagawea dollar, were reviewed and recommended Feb. 18 by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.
The U.S. Mint is preparing to strike the coins with a W Mint mark at the West Point Mint.
Source – Coin World
Spot gold was down 0.4% at $3,101.01 an ounce, as of 0710 GMT. Still, bullion was on track for a fifth consecutive weekly gain, buoyed by its safe-haven appeal that aided gold to reach three record highs this week.
“Gold tends to rally amid difficult-to-price uncertainty – like the start of a war – but tends to lose that support once markets learn how to price the risks involved,” said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive.
“The Trump administration seems to have picked a road, and while sentiment clearly doesn’t like it, at least the path of least resistance is more visible and easier to price. That is trimming some of gold’s “market confusion” premium.”
Spot silver declined 1.5% to $31.4 an ounce, platinum lost 0.8% to $944.80, and palladium was steady at $928.33.
Source – Reuters
