Gold reclaiming some ground on weaker U.S. dollar this morning. Meanwhile, European stocks and U.S. equity futures have applied the brakes following yesterday’s record setting session on the Dow driven by vaccine hopes and relief over progress being made in the transition to a Biden administration.
The Dow opened down more than 75 points, taking a bit of a break following a record setting day. On Tuesday, the Dow broke above 30,000 for the first time ever, rallying more than 400 points. Tuesday’s rally put the Dow on pace for its biggest monthly gain since 1987, up more than 13%.
Earlier Wednesday, the dollar index eased 0.2%, making bullion cheaper to other currency holders.
Front-month gold futures settled at $1,804.60 an ounce on Comex, falling over 50 an ounce on growing optimism about the fight against COVID. Gold is still up more than $275 an ounce this year. It slipped 0.8% in October, its third consecutive monthly decline. Currently, the December contract is at $1,811.30 and the DG spot price is $1,817.20.
The virus known as COVID-19 has killed 1.41 million people worldwide and sickened 59.8 million. Almost 21% of the cases — and 18.4% of the deaths — are in the U.S. The country has more than 12.5 million cases, more than any other nation.
A large chunk of U.S. economic data was released Wednesday ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday, during which markets will be closed. Gold has held steady during the data dump that included the weekly jobless claims coming in higher than expected at 778,000 (Dow forecast 733,000) as COVID continues to take its toll on the economy. Durable goods orders rose a healthy 1.3% last month, widely beating the expected .5% rise. The Q3 GDP grew at an unrevised 33.1% annualized output, missing the forecast 33.5%. Still to come this morning are consumer sentiment and consumer spending and core inflation data.
The markets will next look for guidance to this afternoon’s release of the Fed minutes from its November meeting. Analysts expect clues as to whether the Fed will adjust bond buying.
Front-month silver futures settle Tuesday at $23.30 an ounce on Comex. The most active contract gained 0.6% in October. Currently, the December contract is at $23.460 an ounce while the DG spot price is $23.52.
DG spot platinum is currently up $4.60 to $964.10 an ounce and spot palladium is down $18.20 to $2,348.60.
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