Gold futures are sliding to kick off the trading week as the US dollar topped a
April gold futures tumbled $5.90, or 0.45%, to $1,312.70 per ounce at 16:10 GMT on Monday. Last week, gold prices shed 0.3%, bringing its
Silver, the sister commodity to gold, is in the red to start the trading week, too. March silver futures slipped $0.105, or 0.67%, to $15.705 an ounce. The white metal also posted a weekly loss of more than 1%, lowering its 2018 advance to under 1%.
Precious metals are easing on a rising US dollar as the greenback rose 0.41% to 97.04. This is the best level in more than a month. A stronger buck is bad for commodities pegged in dollars because it makes it more expensive for foreign investors to purchase.
Higher equities markets weighed on metal commodities as most US, European, and Asian indexes were in the green on Monday. Markets rallied on investor optimism over this week’s meeting between US and Chinese negotiators. A delegation of American officials is in China, which comes as President Donald Trump confirmed that he will not meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping prior to the key March 1 deadline to reach a new trade agreement.
Should the talks collapse and the deadline passes, then a 25% tariff would be imposed on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. This has some traders fearing that it would exacerbate the slowdown unfolding in the world’s
Gold’s losses were capped on political turmoil in Washington as a second partial government shutdown could ensue if the White House and Democrats do not agree to border security. Reports show that the last shutdown cost the national economy about $11 billion.
In other metals markets, March copper futures slid $0.02, or 0.8%, to $2.78 per pound. March platinum futures plunged $12.30, or 1.53%, to $790.20 an ounce. March palladium futures plummeted $13.10, or 0.96%, to $1,358.10 per ounce.
If you have any questions and comments on commodities today, use the form below to reply.