Commodity Blog

Gold futures are plunging to kick off the trading week, a decline driven by investors taking profits after the yellow metal soared to its best levels in more than six years. The rally in equities also sent gold prices lower on Monday, buoyed by greater monetary easing by the US, China, and Germany to counter the slowdown in economic growth.

December gold futures tumbled $15.10, or 0.99%, to $1,508.50 per ounce at 13:38 GMT on Monday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Last week, gold enjoyed a 1% gain, bringing its year-to-date gains to around 18%.

Silver, the sister commodity to gold, is also plummeting to start the trading week. September silver futures shed $0.24, or 1.41%, to $16.88 an ounce. The white metal lodged a 1.3% increase last week.

There have been multiple gold-positive events so far this month that have contributed to the metal’s meteoric ascent. Gold advancing to a six-year high was boosted by the escalating US-China trade conflict, falling bond yields, geopolitical tensions, accommodative monetary policy by the big central banks, and triple-digit losses by leading stock indexes. But gold’s dramatic rise appears to have hit the pause button with traders selling bullion and taking profits now.

According to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), money managers and hedge fund reduced their net long positions in gold and silver contracts in the week ending August 13.

On Monday, there was a recovery in the financial markets, diminishing the safe-haven appeal of precious metals. Treasury yields also experienced a jump, reversing record lows following last week’s historic and closely-watched yield curve inversion between the two- and 10-year bonds.

Does that mean the bull run in gold is over? Not all analysts believe that is the case.

Stan Bharti, chief executive officer of private merchant bank Forbes & Manhattan, told MarketWatch that gold prices are moving higher based on long-term trends, not short-term developments. With the Federal Reserve on the cusp of pulling the trigger on another cut in interest rates – the second in a decade – and talk of an upcoming recession, gold could potentially eye $2,000, says Bharti.

If you need a sign of future turmoil, then look at the central banks buying gold. In the first half of 2019, central banks have acquired a record $15.7 billion of gold as part of efforts to diversify their reserves away from the US dollar. Overall, year-on-year demand has edged up 8%.

In other metal commodities, September copper futures rose $0.01, or 0.4%, to $2.60 per pound. October platinum futures dipped $0.50, or 0.06%, to $851.00 an ounce. October palladium futures surged $23.60, or 1.64%, to $1,464.90 per ounce.

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