Gold futures are slipping to kick off the trading week as the equity market is surging. The yellow metal has fallen to a
December gold futures tumbled $14.89, or 1.12%, to $1,310.20 per ounce at 16:34 GMT on Monday. Gold prices are trading at their lowest levels since the beginning of September. This comes as gold recorded its first weekly loss this month last week.
Silver, the sister commodity to the yellow metal, is also bleeding red ink to begin the trading week. December silver futures dipped $0.50, or 2.81%, to $17.19 an ounce. The white metal also posted a weekly loss last week.
Investors are retreating from the safe haven asset and pouring into equities. With the North Korean threat seemingly idle, traders are confident in stocks, as some indexes jumped to record highs.
Even the US dollar has been given a boost as the greenback has risen 0.32% on Monday. A stronger dollar is bad for commodities like gold and silver because it makes it more expensive for foreign investors to buy.
The US dollar received some momentum because the Federal Reserve is expected to move ahead with its plan to shed some of its assets. The US central bank will announce this week that it will proceed to sell a portion of its $4 trillion in bonds and mortgage securities. The market is doubtful that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will agree to raise interest rates at the end of the
Gold is generally sensitive to a
Still, recent Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data found that money managers and hedge funds raised their net long positions in gold contracts for the ninth consecutive week, topping a
Any additional gold losses were capped by reports that US unemployment claims increased last week, primarily because of Hurricane Harvey’s devastating impact on the oil and gas industry in Texas.
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