Weekly Round-Up: Gold Price Inches Up on Weaker US Dollar

The gold price edged higher on Friday (November 17), supported by a softer US dollar and uncertainty over a tax reform bill backed by US President Donald Trump.
On Thursday (November 16), the US House of Representatives passed a bill to cut federal tax rates; however, the Senate, which is debating its own separate plan, has yet to approve the legislation.
“Taxes will determine the type of country we have and it has an effect on the dollar, which will in turn have an effect on gold,” said John Lawrence, senior metals trader at Heraeus Precious Metals in New York.

That said, expectations of another US Federal Reserve interest rate hike in December are limiting gold’s gains. Higher rates tend to curb the investment appeal of non-interest-bearing assets like gold.
As ICBC Standard Bank precious metals strategist Tom Kendall explained, the prospect of a rise in US interest rates is dueling with support from uncertainty about US fiscal policy. “The two are kind of pushing and pulling on global yields and on the gold price,” he said.
The gold price was at $1,293.50 per ounce as of 1:00 p.m. EST on Friday.
Looking over to other precious metals, silver was trading lower on Friday, but was on track for a weekly increase of 1 percent. As of 1:00 p.m. EST on Friday, the white metal was at $17.21 per ounce. Meanwhile, palladium was down 0.6 percent for the week, trading at $988.25 per ounce, while platinum rose 1.6 percent to change hands at $940.10 per ounce.
On the base metals side, LME copper closed up 0.6 percent on Friday, at $6,777 per tonne, but was down 0.5 percent for the week. Nickel added 1.8 percent, but ended the week down 4.4 percent.
Lastly, spot oil climbed higher on Friday, but was on track for its first weekly decline in six weeks, driven by an increase in US stockpiles.
December West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.7 percent to hit $56.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for January delivery on London’s ICE Futures exchange was up 1.1 percent, at $62.05 a barrel.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Priscila Barrera, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

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This article is updated each week. Please scroll to the top for the most recent information.

Weekly Round-Up: Gold Price Falls from 3-week High
By Charlotte McLeod, November 10, 2017
The gold price hit a three-week high on Thursday (November 9), but “moved to solidly lower levels” in late-morning trading on Friday (November 10). 
The yellow metal rose as high as $1,287.30 per ounce on Thursday before sinking to the $1,275 level the next day. According to Kitco’s Jim Wyckoff, 4 million ounces of paper gold were released into the futures market in a period of just 15 minutes on Friday.
Wyckoff also noted that gold’s near-term charting improved during the week, meaning that there may be “more sideways-to-higher price action next week.”

He added, “[l]ower closes in the U.S. stock indexes on Friday would produce some near-term technical damage, to suggest near-term market tops are in place. That would be a bullish development for the competing asset class, precious metals.”
Silver saw similar price action this week, although it hit its highest point on Monday (November 6), when it reached $17.22 per ounce. Its top price on Thursday was $17.07, and as of 1:00 p.m. EST on Friday it was changing hands at just $16.80.
Precious metal palladium had a more positive week, with futures ending at their highest level in 16 years on Wednesday (November 8). The December palladium futures contract rose that day by $21.70, or 2.2 percent, to settle at $1,015.80 per ounce. Platinum was at $929 per ounce as of 1:00 p.m. EST on Friday.
On the base metals side, LME copper fell to its lowest level since October 11 on Thursday, coming in at $6,761.50 per tonne. Friday morning it was holding above that level on the back of a weaker dollar, sitting at $6,840. BMI Research said that “prices will continue to trade sideways over the coming weeks [due to] a stronger U.S. dollar outlook and weakening Chinese import of refined copper.”
Finally, oil prices held near 28-month highs on Friday, with hopes that OPEC will extend its production cuts being offset by predictions that US output will keep increasing. According to Reuters, Brent futures were up 0.2 percent as of 11:13 a.m. EST, at $64.06 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was down a penny, at $57.19 per barrel.
“Market participants expect OPEC to extend the production cuts beyond March 2018 and stocks to decline further,” the news outlet quotes Commerzbank (OTCMKTS:CRZBY) as saying. “[T]he higher price level should lead to a further rise in U.S. shale oil production.”
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Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.