Silver prices marched past the $34-an-ounce mark on Monday as market sentiment soured over the weekend in the wake of renewed US-China trade tensions.
Spot silver traded as high as $34.31 per ounce during the session, for a gain of more than 4%. Comex silver futures also rose 4.5% to $34.51 an ounce.
Source – Mining.com
The precious metal remains supported as concerns about an intensifying global trade war continue to place downward pressure on the dollar and Treasurys amid diminishing faith in the U.S. as a reliable trading partner.
Gold’s price, which soared 6% last week and trades 23% higher since the start of the year, seesawed Sunday evening as investors digested news that recently announced U.S. tariff exemptions on smartphones, computers, and semiconductors could be temporary, with the president later pledging a national security trade investigation into the chip sector.
Source – Investopedia
An internal document seen by Reuters showed Codelco’s production reached 1.328 million tons in 2024, at the low end of its target range and just about 3,500 tons higher than the quarter-century low in 2023.
The worker, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to talk about internal operations, said Codelco has yet to fix bottlenecks in transporting minerals in the mine.
Cristian Cifuentes, an analyst at the Center for Copper Studies (CESCO), said that the Ministro Hales mine is still at reduced capacity and the ramp up of Chuquicamata Underground has been “slower than we all thought.”
Source – Reuters
The footage played at their trial at Oxford Crown Court showed two vehicles driving across the Great Courtyard, before hooded individuals armed with sledgehammers and a large crowbar broke into the palace. One could be seen leaving carrying a golden toilet seat.
The fully functioning lavatory was insured for the sum of $6m (£4.8m), the court heard previously.
“They knew precisely where to go, broke down the wooden door to the cubicle where the toilet was fully plumbed in, removed it, leaving water pouring out of the pipes, and drove away,” prosecutor Julian Christopher KC said previously.
“Clearly such an audacious raid would not have been possible without lots of preparation”, he added,
Source – BBC
I will follow this till the end of the trial. I want to know what happened to the toilet! Maybe you do too. Clearly had to have been planned and to have done it so quickly, from the video evidence anyway. Let’s see what happens. -V.
US President Donald Trump went ahead with 50% tariffs on copper imports but exempted refined metals, which are the mainstay of international trading. The move triggered a record plunge for US prices after a period of fat profits for traders who hurried metal to America before the levies kicked in. A large premium for New York futures over London evaporated.
“The blow-out in the CME-LME spread has been touted as one of the most profitable commodity trades in modern history,” Daniel Ghali of TD Securities Inc. wrote in a note. “In a single session, the White House’s proclamation on copper tariffs annihilated the spread and catalyzed CME copper’s largest intraday fall on record.”
Copper futures on Comex in New York fell by 22% as traders recalibrated the value of metal in the US versus the rest of the world.
Source – Bloomberg
Gold rose more than 2% on Monday to its highest in over three weeks, as a weakening dollar and a combination of geopolitical risks and economic uncertainty fuelled investor demand for safe-haven assets.
Spot gold was up 2.7% at $3,377.29 an ounce, as of 10:19 a.m ET (1419 GMT), after hitting its highest level since May 8 earlier in the session.
“The latest tariff threats on Friday, including plans to double steel and aluminium tariffs to 50% along with Ukraine’s weekend attacks deep into Russia, have heightened geopolitical risks and are fuelling risk-off sentiment,” said Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zanier Metals.
“For the gold forecast, this backdrop of risk aversion and fiscal uncertainty couldn’t be more favourable.”
Spot silver rose 4.1% to $34.31 an ounce, platinum was up 0.3% at $1,059.55 and palladium rose 1.2% to $982.40.
Source – Reuters
ANZ raised its zero to 3-month gold price forecast to $3,100 per ounce and 6-month forecast to $3,200 per ounce, according to a research note on Tuesday.
For gold “we maintain our bullish view, amid strong tailwinds from escalating geopolitical and trade tensions, easing monetary policy, and strong central bank buying,” the bank said.
Source – Reuters
