“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
South Africa’s rand, stocks and government bonds strengthened on Friday, boosted by higher gold prices as worries over the United States’ worsening fiscal health sent investors into the safe-haven asset.
At 0929 GMT, the rand traded at 17.9150 against the dollar, 0.5% stronger than Thursday’s closing level.
Gold prices rose on Friday and were poised for their biggest weekly gain in more than a month, as a softer U.S. dollar and concerns over the country’s fiscal outlook boosted bullion’s safe-haven appeal.
Source – Reuters
Source – Money Metals
Idaho yesterday formally ended state income taxes on gold and silver as part of its largest tax cut in state history.
House Bill 40, sponsored by House Speaker Mike Moyle and begrudgingly signed by the state’s liberal Republican governor Brad Little, provides a sweeping $253 million income tax cut for Idahoan taxpayers by lowering the rate from 5.695% to 5.3% while also adding two specific exemptions.
Moyle said today, “I’m proud to help secure another $253 million in income tax cuts for Idaho families. Meanwhile, it makes no sense for Idaho to tax gold and silver, the only money mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.”
Source – Money Metals
Legislation introduced in the House March 10 seeks a two-coin program for 2027 commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. The issue date is a year past the anniversary, to avoid conflicting with the semiquincentennial initiatives.
Source – Coin World
Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) trades little changed Thursday as Jefferies upgrades shares to Buy from Hold with a $48 price target, raised from $40, just one month after downgrading due to risks in Indonesia, a cautious view on copper, and the company’s near-term lack of free cash flow.
If tariffs are implemented, Comex copper price premiums to the LME, which have been high already because of potential tariffs, likely will rise further, Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina says, noting Freeport (FCX) sells 1.35B lbs/year of copper at Comex prices and the current Comex premium to LME is ~$0.30/lb, and tariff-impacted imports would effectively set the Comex price since the U.S. cannot be self-sufficient in copper.
Source – Seeking Alpha
Jefferies – Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company headquartered in New York City.
Source – KITCO
