Commodity Blog

Gold futures are sliding to kick off the trading week as the equities market rebounds and the US dollar posts modest gains. The yellow metal, which is on track for a monthly gain for the first time since February, has also traded lower on upbeat corporate earnings and debt relief for the Italian government.

December gold futures tumbled $4.00, or 0.32%, to $1,231.90 per ounce at 13:09 GMT on Monday. Last week, gold prices recorded their fourth straightly weekly gain as they jumped 0.6%. After reaching a peak in April, the precious metal has plunged more than 7%. With October coming to a close, gold is poised to report its first monthly increase in six months.

Silver, the sister commodity to gold, is struggling to find direction to start the trading week. December silver futures rose $0.01, or 0.07%, to $14.71 an ounce. The white metal also posted a weekly jump last week and could enjoy a monthly boost of around 1%.

Gold prices have rallied in recent days on the jitters in the global financial markets. With the equities market getting routed last week, investors poured into the yellow metal, helping gold maintain its traditional distinction as a safe-haven asset. Asian shares did fall on Monday, but US and European shares have rebounded, buoyed by positive corporate earnings and debt relief for the Italian government.

The US dollar impacted gold’s performance as the greenback climbed 0.24% to 96.64. The currency has rallied despite the US-China trade war, advancing 5% so far in 2018. A stronger buck is bad for dollar-pegged commodities because it makes it more expensive for foreign investors to purchase.

There has been a renewed buying interest in the metals market. According to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), hedge funds and money managers slashed their net short positions in gold to the smallest amount since the summer. The reduction in shorts has been driven by the push for new net long positions.

But as traders appear to be bullish for gold, Wall Street has other ideas, cutting its average gold price forecasts for the rest of the year and in 2019.

In other metal commodities, December copper futures rose $0.01, or 0.4%, to $2.75 per pound. December platinum futures surged $10.40, or 1.25%, to $844.80 an ounce. December palladium futures soared $20.70, or 1.91%, to $1,106.60 per ounce.

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