Gold and silver see modest price gains; bulls still shaky
New York (Jun 24) Gold and silver prices are modestly higher in early U.S. trading Thursday. Bulls are working to stabilize the markets and have had some success this week. However, they have more work to do in the near term to improve the still-bearish near-term technical postures of both metals. August gold futures were last up $4.60 at $1,786.00 and July Comex silver was last up $0.019 at $26.13 an ounce.
Global stock markets were mostly higher overnight. The U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward higher openings when the New York day session begins and are at or near their record highs. There remains little risk aversion in the global marketplace at present, amid a generally calm geopolitical environment.
Today’s Bank of England meeting on its monetary policy saw no changes. However, the rise of U.K. inflation above the BOE’s target has increased speculation about the timing of future tightening.
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said he would be in favor of lifting U.S. interest rates in 2022 and that tapering could happen in the next few months.
Broker SP Angel said this morning in an email dispatch, regarding a 30-year super-cycle in commodity markets: “There is much debate about the nature of the bull run in commodities that we are in at present. Historically strong growth cycles are driven by seismic changes to global consumption and generally last more than just a couple of years. The driver for today’s growth in commodity demand started in China in 1992 when President Jiang Zemin introduced the term ‘socialist market economy’ following Deng Xiaoping's urge to accelerate ‘opening up and reform’. The move ended China’s long-run economic stagnation and isolation with economic growth of 9.5% annually estimated from 1978 to 2013, albeit off a very low base. Global demand for commodities is partly driven by the emergence of China driven by ongoing demand growth in the West, particularly the U.S. A new phase of growth for metals for EVs, wind farms, batteries is also upon us. U.S. stimulus to counteract and keep pace with the emergence of China as a new superpower is also driving demand for most metals.”
The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index slightly down. Nymex crude oil futures are a bit weaker and trading around $73.00 a barrel after hitting a 2.5-year high of $74.25 on Wednesday. The yield on the benchmark U.S. Treasury 10-year note is presently fetching 1.489%.
U.S. economic data due for release Thursday includes the weekly jobless claims report, the third estimate of first-quarter GDP, durable goods orders and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City manufacturing report. Several Federal Reserve officials are also slated to speak today.
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