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Gold, copper and crude oil are faring well today, but silver is down slightly.
Spot gold was unchanged this morning at $1,317.90 an ounce, according to Reuters. However, the precious metal is up 1.2 percent, or $15.81, for the week, and is continuing on its second week of gains.
Currently, lower US Treasury yields are supporting gold’s price, but analysts expect the US economy will improve, meaning that lower gold prices are in store. “Looking forward, our view is for lower prices because the U.S. economic indicators are starting to improve compared to the start of the year,” Reuters quotes Bernard Dahdah, an analyst for Natixis (EPA:KN), as saying.
Even so, there is a possibility that Russia-Ukraine tensions, which are also beginning to affect the global marketplace, will raise the value of precious metals.
For silver, that has not yet happened. The white metal fell by 0.2 percent, or $0.40, to $19.97 an ounce today, Reuters notes.
Meanwhile, the price for copper on the London Metal Exchange traded up 0.53 percent, or $35.46, hitting $6,690 a tonne, as per another Reuters article. That’s an increase of nearly 6 percent since the metal’s low of $6,321 in March.
Explaining that price activity, William Adams, head of research at Fastmarkets, told Reuters, “[c]opper got oversold recently but the rebound has been the least energetic. Copper (relative to other metals) is still trading the highest above its cost of production and we are moving into surplus”
Finally, the price of Brent crude oil has risen 24 cents thus far today, reaching $107.70 a barrel. That increase came as demand rose due to traders covering short positions before the week’s end. Those traders were motivated by fears that Russia will go to war with Ukraine, Reuters said.
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