This post was originally published on this site
Gold futures were trading on unsteady footing Wednesday, switching between small gains and losses, as investors watched developments with the omicron variant of the COVID.
At last check, the most-active February gold contract
GCG22,
GC00,
was trading 60 cents, or less than 0.1%, lower at $1,783.90 an ounce, after rising 0.3% on Tuesday to mark the highest finish for the most-active contract since Nov. 26.
Pfizer
PFE,
and BioNTech SE
BNTX,
said Wednesday a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine neutralized omicron in preliminary lab tests, but that a two-dose regimen was much less effective.
The report comes as investors fret about the effectiveness of treatments and vaccines against the new variant of the coronavirus, which scientists fear can elude remedies due to its mutations on the spike protein, the target sight for most vaccines.
Concerns about the pandemic have helped to buttress gold prices, but the commodity has been checked by anticipation that the Federal Reserve will take a more aggressive approach in tightening monetary policy, which would weigh on yield-sensitive gold.
Yields, however, have remained tempered below 1.5% for the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
and the U.S. dollar, as measured by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
has been somewhat subdued, providing some ground for gold, and other precious metals priced in the currency, to gain.
Those factors combined, the pandemic and the Fed, have resulted in a trading environment that have appeared extremely volatile. Choppy markets can also provide a floor for bullion.
“Right now, it is difficult to find a direction for the precious metal, with markets remaining volatile,” wrote Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades, in a daily research note.
Meanwhile, March silver
SIH22,
traded 21 cents, or 0.8%, lower at $22.35 an ounce, after rising 1.2% on Tuesday.
