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Gold futures weakened on Thursday, a day after rising to their highest level in nearly a week, as Treasury yields resumed their march higher following a precipitous pullback.
Price action
-
Gold futures
GCZ22,
-0.41%
for December delivery retreated $8.60, or 0.5%, to $1,661.40 per ounce on Comex following a gain of 2.1% Wednesday. -
December silver futures
SIZ22,
-1.43%
were down 16 cents, or 0.9%, to $18.72 per ounce. -
December palladium
PAZ22,
+1.68%
rose $40.90, or 1.9%, to $2,210, while January platinum
PLF23,
-0.55%
traded at $861.10 per ounce, up 30 cents. -
Copper futures
HGZ22,
+0.64%
for December delivery climbed 3.8 cents, or 1.1%, to $3.396 per pound.
What’s happening
Gold received a brief reprieve on Wednesday as U.S. stocks soared and Treasury yields recorded their biggest daily drop in more than two years following the Bank of England’s announcement that it would do “whatever it takes” to calm the gilt market, which boosted fixed income markets in Europe and the U.S.
See: Here are two reasons the Bank of England had to step in and buy bonds
Rupert Rowling, a market analyst at Kinesis Money, attributed gold’s move back toward its lowest level in more than two years to the latest wave of hawkish rhetoric from senior Federal Reserve officials.
“The Fed’s hawkish policy of raising interest rates has had a doubly negative impact on gold as not only has it made the non-yield bearing asset less attractive, it has also helped strengthen the US dollar to record levels, which given gold’s typically inverse correlation with the greenback has exacerbated its decline,” Rowling wrote in an emailed note to clients.
In Thursday dealings, the 10-year Treasury yield
TMUBMUSD10Y,
rose more than 8 basis points to 3.793%, while the ICE U.S. Dollar index
DXY,
edged up by 0.1% to 112.729.
The U.S. dollar move higher has been the strongest in over twenty years or more, as compared to the euro, pound, and yen, and has “outweighed the more traditional reasons to own gold in the short term” Michael Cuggino, president and portfolio manager of the Permanent Portfolio Family of Funds, told MarketWatch.
Still, he was upbeat on the outlook for the precious metal, referring to that condition as “probably unsustainable long term.” It will likely “ameliorate over time as global interest rates rise, allowing gold to resume its traditional role as a long duration asset against the growth of money and a hedge against uncertainty,” he said.
Cuggino added that while gold has seen a short term correction, declining year to date, “the current price presents a reasonable entry point for long-term investors who desire its benefits, despite no change in long-term fundamental reasons for owning it.”
