Weekly Round-Up: Strong US Dollar Weighs on Gold Price

The gold price is headed for its worst week since early December.

The yellow metal trended downward throughout the week to reach $1,332.10 per ounce as of 8:28 a.m. EST on Friday (February 23).

Meanwhile, the US dollar strengthened, rising at the beginning of the week and continuing to remain in the green.

INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir stated, “[w]e remain somewhat cautious on gold over the short-term given that we think the dollar rally is still not over, especially in the light of U.S. Treasury yields remaining elevated.”

On the upside, gold is expected to rise $1,354 as it has stabilized around a support at $1,326, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.

For its part, silver was also down for the week, falling approximately 0.3 percent. As of 8:54 a.m. EST on Friday, silver sat at $16.63 an ounce.

However, some industry experts believe that silver could be on the cusp of a major rally.

Greg Johnson, CEO of Metallic Minerals (TSXV:MMG), told Kitco that he is bullish on silver, saying “I think gold and silver are poised to enter a new uptrend. Silver, in particular, looks good as industrial consumption remains in a long-term uptrend. All the market needs is renewed investor interest and I think it’s only a matter of time before that comes.”

Rounding out the week in metals is copper, which was down for the week and was trading at $3.22 per pound as of 9:01 a.m. EST on Friday.

The base metal fell on Friday as investors locked in profits and the dollar firmed amid uncertainty over demand in top metals consumer China.

Meanwhile, although oil was down for the first part of the week, it rebounded on Thursday (February 22) as a US supply drop dispelled shale boom fears.

According to Bloomberg, oil surged to its highest level in two weeks as American supply unexpectedly shrank and exports surged, dispelling fears that a new shale boom will leave the country awash in crude.

Also affecting oil prices were output cuts from OPEC, which are are helping to drain a global glut. Shipments from the group will fall by 300,000 barrels a day in the four weeks to March 10, according to tanker-tracker Oil Movements.

As of Friday at 9:43 a.m. EST, oil was sitting at $62.74 per barrel.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Nicole Rashotte, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.