Metals Stocks: Gold futures climb as tension over Ukraine resurfaces

“Technically, the April gold futures bulls have the firm overall near-term technical advantage,” wrote Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco.com.

“Prices are trending up on the daily bar chart. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close in February futures above solid resistance at the November high of $1,882.50,” he wrote.

A NATO official said there are no signs of a Russian troop withdrawal near Ukraine, meaning an invasion by Russia might still be imminent, lifting the bullish case for bullion.

“The geopolitical tensions surrounding Ukraine have been the latest catalyst to propel gold to fresh 2022 highs,” analysts at Sevens Report Research wrote in Wednesday’s newsletter. Gold futures settled at a roughly three-month high on Monday.

While the influence of those tensions “could fade in the weeks ahead, worries that the [Federal Reserve] is behind-the-curve with regard to inflation could be a continued tailwind for the gold market in the sessions ahead,” the analysts said.

Commodity investors await the minutes of last month’s Federal Reserve meeting due at 2 p.m. ET. Investors are fixated on how quickly the Fed might raise interest rates as its attempts to combat surging inflation.

Ahead of that report, investors parsed sales for U.S. retailers, which jumped 3.8% in January. The increase in sales was the largest since last March, when Americans spent a good chunk of their stimulus money from the government. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast after retail sales fell a revised 2.5% in December.

Separately, import prices for January rose 2% and 1.4%, excluding fuel costs.

In other Comex dealings, March copper
HGH22,
+0.04%
traded little changed at $4.531 a pound. April platinum
PLJ22,
+3.32%
tacked on 2.8% to $1,049 an ounce and March palladium
PAH22,
+1.05%
traded at $2,277 an ounce, up 1.1%.