Commodity Blog

Gold prices are targeting fresh six-year highs to finish off the trading week, giving the yellow metal a strong weekly gain. Driven by a dovish US central bank, geopolitical tensions, and a potential global sovereign debt crisis, investors are once again pouring into the safe-haven asset after years of avoiding the precious metal. Is gold’s next stop $1,450?

August gold futures surged $13.20, or 0.92%, to $1,441.20 per ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange at 14:31 GMT on Friday. Gold is poised for a weekly gain of about 1.7%, lifting its year-to-date gains to more than 12%. Over the last 12 months, the yellow metal has soared 17%.

Silver, the sister commodity to gold, is also rallying to close out the trading week. August silver futures rose $0.35, or 2.17%, to $16.545 per ounce. The white metal will post a tremendous weekly increase of 8.5%, advancing just under 7% on the year.

Metal commodities are gaining momentum on gold-positive trends on the world stage.

Last week, the Federal Reserve signaled that it was cutting interest rates to facilitate growth and reverse some bearish trends. Although the central bank did not confirm when it would be lowering rates, the market widely anticipates that a quarter-point reduction will occur as early as this month’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

New York Fed Bank President John Williams told the Central Bank Research Association that it is “better to take preventative measures than to wait for disaster to unfold.” Investors took this as a hint as to what will happen at the next FOMC powwow, but Williams later clarified that this statement was made based on academic research, not on what will or will not happen in the coming weeks.

President Donald Trump provided his take on the so-called controversial comments, noting that he preferred Williams’s first statement to his second. The president reiterated his position that the Fed needs to “stop with the crazy quantitative tightening” and not to “blow it” by stopping “unparalleled” economic growth.

Sovereign debt is back in the business news headlines as commodity analysts are alluding to the $13 trillion that are experiencing negative yields. This means that lenders are receiving less than their principal investment, limiting any potential gains. As a result, these trends in financial markets are bolstering gold’s appeal to investors everywhere.

A strengthening US dollar may have capped gold’s ascent on Friday as the greenback jumped 0.28% to 97.07. The buck is ready to report a weekly jump of 0.25%. A stronger currency is bad for dollar-denominated commodities because it makes it more expensive for foreign investors to purchase.

In other metal markets, September copper futures spiked $0.08, or 3.01%, to $2.79 a pound. August platinum futures soared $10.70, or 1.26%, to $860.60 an ounce. August palladium futures rose $12.40, or 0.82%, to $1,524.30 per ounce.

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