Gold May Advance as Euro-Area’s Debt Crisis Spurs Demand
Bloomberg
Gold futures advanced from a one- week low as the dollar declined, increasing demand for the metal as an alternative investment.
The greenback fell for the second straight day against a basket of currencies as European debt concerns eased and the International Monetary Fund increased its forecasts for economic growth. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 commodities rose as much as 0.9 percent.
“The dollar’s weakness is supporting all commodities, including gold,” Sterling Smith, a market analyst at Country Hedging inSt. Paul, Minnesota, said in a telephone interview.
Gold futures for June delivery rose 0.1 percent to settle at $1,651.10 an ounce at 2:11 p.m. on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the price dropped to $1,635.20, the lowest since April 10. The precious metal has advanced 5.4 percent this year.
Silver futures for May delivery jumped 1 percent to $31.674 an ounce on the Comex. Prices have climbed 13 percent this year.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, platinum futures for July delivery climbed 0.6 percent to $1,584.70 an ounce. Palladium futures for June delivery increased 1.7 percent to $661.95 an ounce.
read more on this article here
Gold May Advance for a Third Day on Stimulus Speculation
Bloomberg
Gold climbed to a one-week high in New York, as concern that Europe’s debt sovereign debt woes are deepening spurred demand for a haven investment.
Spanish and Italian bond yields surged, fueling fears that the crisis may be worsening. Stocks slid, extending the longest slump for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since November and the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 raw materials declined as much as 1.5 percent.
“People are now looking at gold as a flight-to-quality investment rather than a classic commodity in this fear environment,” Adam Klopfenstein, a market strategist at Archer Financial Services Inc., based in Chicago, said in a telephone interview.
Gold futures for June delivery rose 1 percent to settle at $1,660.70 an ounce at 1:42 p.m. on the Comex in New York, the biggest jump since March 30. Earlier, prices touched $1,664.80, the highest since April 3.
Bullion also rose as purchases increased in India, the world’s biggest importer, after jewelers ended a 21-day strike, Klopfenstein said.
Open interest for gold futures contracts fell to 401,018 on April 5, the lowest since Sept. 1, 2009.
Silver futures for May delivery advanced 0.5 percent to $31.679 an ounce on the Comex, gaining for the second time in three sessions.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, platinum futures for July delivery fell 1.5 percent to $1,593.70 an ounce, retreating for the first time in three sessions. Palladium futures for June delivery declined 1.1 percent to $636.85 an ounce on the Nymex.
read more on this article here
Gold Prices Cap an 11th Straight Annual Advance
Bloomberg
Gold rose the most this month, capping an 11th straight annual advance, on speculation that demand will climb from jewelers and investors.
Gold fell 4.7 percent in the previous six sessions to the lowest since July 7 as the dollar gained against the euro, curbing demand for the metal as an alternative investment. That may boost seasonal purchases, said Marc Ground, a commodities strategist at Standard Bank Plc. In the first quarter of 2011, jewelry demand jumped 12 percent from a year earlier in India, the world’s biggest buyer, according to World Gold Council data.
“While we haven’t seen physical demand pick up yet, maybe people are anticipating it for next year,” Ground said in a telephone interview from Johannesburg. “January and February are usually good months in India, and a lower gold price might attract some buyers.”
Gold futures for February delivery climbed 1.7 percent to settle at $1,566.80 an ounce at 1:35 p.m. on the Comex in New York, ending a six-session slump that was the longest since March 2009.
While bullion gained 10 percent this year, prices have plunged as much as 21 percent since touching a record $1,923.70 on Sept. 6.
Dennis Gartman, the economist and editor of the Gartman Letter, said he is “about to become bullish” after being neutral since mid-November.
“We did not expect to see gold hold as well as it has or did in the past 24 hours,” Gartman wrote in his letter e-mailed today.
read more on this article here
Gold May Advance on Europe Debt Woes, Fed Policy, Survey Shows
Bloomberg
Gold may gain as concern about Europe’s debt woes and sustained record-low interest rates in the U.S. spur demand for the metal as an alternative investment, a survey found.
Twelve of 16 traders, investors and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, or 75 percent, said bullion will rise next week. Two predicted lower prices and two were neutral. Gold for August delivery was down 1.3 percent for this week at $1,519.70 an ounce by 11 a.m. yesterday on the Comex in New York. It reached a record $1,577.40 on May 2.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet this week said danger signals for financial stability in the euro area are flashing “red” as the debt crisis threatens to infect banks. Policy makers decided to keep the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet at a record to spur the economy after completing $600 billion of bond purchases this month and repeated they will keep borrowing costs low “for an extended period.”
Gold will be supported “due to continuing sovereign-debt and currency risk,” said Mark O’Byrne, executive director of brokerage GoldCore Ltd. in Dublin. The Fed’s “ultra-loose monetary policies and zero percent interest rates are to continue for the foreseeable future,” he said. “This is a continuing positive for gold prices.”
The attached chart tracks the results of the Bloomberg survey, with the red bars derived by subtracting bearish forecasts from bullish estimates. Readings below zero signal that most respondents expect a decline. The green line shows the gold price. The data are as of June 17.
The weekly gold survey, which started seven years ago, has forecast prices accurately in 212 of 368 weeks, or 58 percent of the time.
read more on this article here
Gold May Advance as Greek Debt Crisis, U.S. Data Increases Investor Demand
Bloomberg
Gold may gain for a third day in London as concern about Europe’s debt crisis and signs that the U.S. economy is slowing spur demand for the metal as an alternative investment.
U.S. payrolls grew at the slowest pace in eight months in May, manufacturing expanded at its slowest pace in more than a year and consumer spending rose less than forecast in April, reports showed last week. The European Union faces a “very serious situation” in Greece, and needs to reach an accord on the country’s debts before finance ministers meet on June 20, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said yesterday.
There are “growing concerns over slowing economic momentum in the U.S. and the possibility of another round of quantitative easing,” James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com in London, said today in a report. “Gold continues to be boosted by pockets of investment demand.”
Immediate-delivery gold gained 75 cents to $1,545.40 an ounce by 9:14 a.m. in London. It yesterday reached $1,553.65, the highest price since May 2. Gold for August delivery was little changed at $1,546.30 an ounce on the Comex in New York.
Concern about faster inflation, Europe’s debt crisis, a weakening dollar and fighting in Libya boosted gold to a record $1,577.57 on May 2. Prices are up 8.8 percent in 2011 after climbing the past 10 years, the longest run of gains in at least nine decades. Federal Reserve ChairmanBen S. Bernanke is scheduled to speak today at the International Monetary Conference in Atlanta as the bank’s second round of bond buying, called quantitative easing or QE2, ends this month.
read more on this article here
Gold May Advance to $1,520, Barclays Says: Technical Analysis
Businessweek
Gold may climb 1.6 percent to a record $1,520 an ounce in two to four weeks, according to technical analysis from Barclays Capital.
The level is an initial resistance area and prices may pause there before extending gains to $1,560 to $1,600 an ounce in three to six months, Dhiren Sarin, an analyst with Barclays, said by phone from Singapore today.
“If you look across different markets right now, investor sentiment is such that they are a little bit risk-averse, so in that environment gold catches a safe-haven bid,” Sarin said. “Inflationary expectations” helped push gold higher since the third quarter of last year, he said.
Gold futures climbed to a record $1,498.60 an ounce yesterday as Standard & Poor’s revised its U.S. credit-rating outlook to negative, boosting the metal’s lure as an alternative to the dollar. Gold jumped 32 percent in the past year and silver has more than doubled on concern that global inflation will accelerate and Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis worsen.
Bullion for June delivery gained 0.2 percent to $1,495.8 an ounce at 6 p.m. Singapore time today on the Comex in New York. Support levels are at $1,430 and $1,440 an ounce, Sarin said.
In technical analysis, investors and analysts study charts of trading patterns and prices to predict changes in a security, commodity, currency or index. A resistance level is where sell orders may be clustered.
read more on this article here
Gold Price Advances Near $1,370
Gold Alert
The gold price advanced Friday morning as the price of gold rose $4.40 to $1,368 per ounce. Amid heightened political uncertainty in Egypt, demand from global investors for both gold and U.S. dollars is increasing. The gold price moved to the upper end of its trading range at the same time that the U.S. dollar strengthened versus all of its major counterparts, including the euro, yen, and pound.
Silver prices held steady above $30 per pound and oil, as measured by the WTI crude March contract, rose $0.42 to $87.15 per barrel. The price of gold has underperformed the more cyclically-sensitive copper price in recent months, although over the past few days there have been signs that this trend maybe reversing. Copper prices slid $0.03 to $4.51 per pound this morning.
Gold and silver equities followed the gold price higher Friday morning after yesterday’s losses. The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) fell 0.9% to 204.49, extending its year-to-date slide to 9.7%. Notable decliners included XAU components Gold Fields (GFI), Harmony Gold (HMY), Newmont Mining (NEM), and Silver Wheaton (SLW). GFI, HMY, NEM, and SLW retreated 1.9%, 1.7%, 1.5%, and 1.6%, respectively.
In recent weeks, movements in the gold price have been dictated in part by commentary from various Federal Reserve members on quantitative easing (QE). Fed Chairman Bernanke has stressed the importance of QE in helping to fuel economic growth, while Fed Presidents Fisher and Lacker have stated that it is time to consider ending QE due to improved economic growth and the asset purchase program’s potential inflationary consequences.
read more on this article here
Gold Advances on Bets Metal to Outperform Stocks, Dollar; Silver Climbs
Bloomberg
Pham-Duy Nguye
Gold prices rose, approaching another record, on speculation the precious metal will outperform stocks and other investments.
Futures reached an all-time high of $1,298 an ounce yesterday as the dollar slumped. Gold has gained 18 percent this year, while the MSCI World Index of equities has dropped 0.3 percent and the greenback climbed 2.8 percent against a basket of major currencies.
“I see no reason why gold should stop going higher,” said Leonard Kaplan, the president of Prospector Asset Management in Evanston, Illinois. “There’s nowhere else to put your money, so people are going to pile into gold.”
Gold futures for December delivery rose $4.20, or 0.3 percent, to settle at $1,296.30 an ounce at 1:39 p.m. on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the price reached $1,297.50. The metal climbed to a record in the previous five sessions.
U.S. stocks fluctuated and Treasuries gained, pushing the 10-year note yield below 2.5 percent for the first time in three weeks. The dollar rose as much as 0.4 percent against a basket of six major currencies.
“The stock market is in a defined trading range,” Kaplan said. “You can’t buy Treasury bills and bonds because they pay next to nothing. Gold has been rising, and that’s where the money is going, but it’s going to be a hard day for gold to get to $1,300 because the dollar is higher.”
Some investors may sell the metal as the price trades close to a record, analysts said.
read more on this article here