Gold slipped early Monday as the U.S. dollar traded near a three-week high, making the yellow metal less attractive as investor risk appetite grows.
Gold’s direction today is likely to be determined by the latest twists in the trade standoff between the U.S. and China. Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration is considering ways to limit U.S. money going into Chinese, but the U.S. Treasury said it has no plans to stop Chinese companies from listing on U.S. exchanges.
The December gold contract slid 0.6% last week to settle at $1,506.40 an ounce on Comex.
SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.22% to 922.88 metric tons on Friday from Thursday, Reuters said. Hedge funds and money managers raised their bullish positions in Comex gold and reduced bullish bets on silver contracts in the week ended Sept. 24, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed Friday.
Silver slipped 1.1% last week, with the December contract settling at $17.65 an ounce on Comex. The metal is down 3.8% this month through Friday.
Spot palladium hit a new record Friday and climbed 2.6% last week to $1,684.40 an ounce amid continued worries about supplies from South Africa and increased demand from China. It was set to cap a monthly rally of almost 10%. Spot platinum decreased 1.6% last week and is heading for a monthly decline.
Investors continue to closely watch the state of the global economy and the possibility of further monetary easing as well as tensions in the Middle East.
Key monthly manufacturing data from around the world is set for release at the beginning of the month. Two indicators of China’s manufacturing activity beat expectations on Monday, CNBC reported. The U.S. ISM Manufacturing Index is due out on Tuesday. Together, the data from the U.S. and China will provide the latest measure of how the trade war between the two countries is affecting their economies. The closely watched monthly U.S. jobs report also comes out Friday.
The CME FedWatch Tool shows that 59.9% of investors think the Fed won’t cut interest rates when policy makers next meet Oct. 30. The probability of a third consecutive 25-basis-point reduction was 40.1% early Monday.
And, in an interview broadcast Sunday on “60 Minutes,” Saudi Arabia’s crown prince warned of an oil-price spike to “unimaginably high numbers” if the world doesn’t come together to deter Iran. Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have blamed Iran for a drone strike on Saudi oil facilities earlier this month.
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