Weekly Round-Up: Biggest Monthly Gain for Gold Since January

The gold price rose on Friday (August 18) after new data showed US jobs growth slowed more than expected in August.
“A weaker-than-expected U.S. employment report that put strong selling pressure on the U.S. dollar index is boosting the precious metals markets,” said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco. A softer greenback makes commodities priced in dollars cheaper for investors using other currencies.
Investors are still awaiting signals on how the jobs report figures may impact future interest rate decisions from the US Federal Reserve. In general, higher interest rates increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

“In our view, a strong rebound in inflation is needed before rate-hike expectations rise materially and help the dollar reverse its latest downtrend,” said Charalambos Pissouros, a senior analyst with IronFX.
Despite the risk of rate hikes, gold rose 4.1 percent in August, its biggest monthly gain since January. And some analysts believe it’s not done moving upward.
“The technical uptrend is well established, there is continuing uncertainty over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and an imminent wrangle between Congress and the White House over the debt ceiling that must be solved by late September to avoid technical default,” said Mitsubishi (TSE:8058) analyst Jonathan Butler. 
As of 12:30 p.m. EST on Friday, the gold price was sitting at $1,323.80 per ounce.
Looking over to silver, the white metal traded flat on Friday after the US jobs report was released, and was on track for a weekly gain of 3 percent. At 12:30 p.m. EST on Friday, the white metal was at $17.70 per ounce.
Palladium was up 1.2 percent on Friday, trading at $944.70 per ounce, while platinum was up 0.3 percent, at $998.40 per ounce.

On the base metals side, copper prices hit their highest level in almost three years, fueled by forecasts of strong demand in top copper consumer China and falling inventories. But analysts are warning that the rally might be overhyped. On Friday, LME copper was up 0.4 percent, at $6,818 a tonne. Click here to read more about factors that could impact prices in the last few months of the year.
Lastly, spot oil edged lower on Friday in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which has killed more than 40 people and brought record flooding, stopping a quarter of the US refining industry.
October West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 0.3 percent, to $47.10 a barrel, while Brent crude for November on London’s ICE Futures Exchange lost 0.1 percent to reach $52.81 a barrel.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time news updates!
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 Trades Near $1,300 After Yellen’s Speech
By Priscila Barrera, August 25, 2017
The gold price rose on Friday (August 18) after US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s speech at an annual gathering of central banks in Jackson Hole.
She offered no clues on monetary policy or future interest rate hikes. As Gold Newsletter Editor Brien Lundin told MarketWatch, Yellen’s comments “were the very definition of a ‘nothingburger.’”
They were “almost exclusively a defense of the Fed’s postcrisis actions and the Dodd-Frank reforms,” he added. 
Investors are still waiting for European Central Bank President Mario Draghi to speak later on Friday afternoon. They will be looking for hints on how the bank plans to start unwinding its stimulus program.

“Draghi must walk the tightrope of giving some signal that he will eventually stop the financial alchemy of quantitative easing without creating massive volatility across Europe,” Brett Ewing, chief market strategist at First Franklin, commented.
Meanwhile, geopolitical uncertainty continued to support the gold price, with tensions in the US boosting demand for precious metals.
“Political uncertainty remains high and continues to provide a strong level of support to prices. Trump’s barrage of tweets during negotiations over the debt ceiling continues to fuel a level of uncertainty in the market,” ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said in a note.
A weaker US dollar also pushed prices higher, as a softer greenback makes commodities priced in dollars cheaper for investors using other currencies. As of 1:00 p.m. EST on Friday, the gold price was at $1,292.50 per ounce.
Looking over to silver, the white metal edged higher on Friday after Yellen’s speech, and was on track for a weekly gain. Silver was also supported by increasing geopolitical uncertainty, and as of 1:00 p.m. EST on Friday, the metal was at $17.09 per ounce.
Palladium was up 0.3 percent on Friday, trading at $937.30 per ounce, while platinum was down 0.3 percent, at $976 per ounce.

On the base metals side, copper prices hit their highest level in almost three years, fueled by forecasts of strong demand in top copper consumer China and falling inventories. However, analysts are warning that the price rally might be overhyped. On Friday, LME copper reached $6,747 a tonne, its highest level since November 2014.
Lastly, spot oil edged higher on Friday as the US dollar fell and the US petroleum industry braced for Hurricane Harvey.
September West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4 percent, to $47.62 a barrel, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery gained 0.19 percent to reach $52.14 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Exchange.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Priscila Barrera, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.