Mild price pressure on gold, silver; bulls will buy the dips
NEW YORK (March 18) Gold and silver prices are a bit lower in early U.S. trading Friday. However, heading into another very uncertain weekend on the geopolitical front, it’s very likely the precious metals bulls during the day session will step in to buy the overnight price dips. April gold futures were last down $2.50 at $1,940.70 and May Comex silver was last down $0.181 at $25.425 an ounce.
Global stocks markets were mixed overnight, with European shares mostly down and Asian shares mostly up. The U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward weaker openings when the New York day session begins. The Russia-Ukraine war that is into its third week, and its significant impact on sectors of world trade, continues to sap marketplace risk appetite. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are set to have a telephone conversation today, with its outcome potentially having pivotal implications on the war. The U.S. hopes to persuade China to distance itself from Russia to avoid U.S. sanctions. However, many think China may come to the aid of Russia in its war with Ukraine. On a more dour note, U.S. government defense officials believe the Russian army’s poor performance in Ukraine has backed Russian dictator Putin into a corner, which makes odds higher that Putin could resort to nuclear weapons amid his weakened conventional military. Heading into the weekend, look for risk aversion in the marketplace to become more elevated as Friday’s trading session progresses.
In a surprising development, Russia apparently has made a payment on U.S. dollar-denominated sovereign bonds, to avoid being in default. That rallied the Russian ruble just a bit. The Russian stock market remains closed.
The key outside markets see Nymex crude oil prices higher and trading around $104.00 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index is firmer today. The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note is presently yielding 2.15%.
U.S. economic data due for release Friday includes existing home sales and leading economic indicators.
May silver futures bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $26.50 an ounce. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $24.00. First resistance is seen at Thursday’s high of $25.75 and then at $26.00. Next support is seen at Thursday’s low of $25.165 and then at $25.00.
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