Sharp price gains in gold as Russia said poised to invade Ukraine
New York (Feb 17) Gold prices are solidly higher and hit an eight-month high in early U.S. trading Thursday. Safe-haven demand is featured as reports say a Russian invasion of Ukraine is "imminent." Silver prices are modestly up, but not yet catching the strong safe-haven bid that gold sees. April gold futures were last up $20.50 at $1,892.10 and March Comex silver was last up $0.16 at $23.765 an ounce.
Risk aversion is keen Thursday on reports that shots have been fired along the Ukraine-Russia border. Reports said Ukrainian troops fired on Russian-backed rebels. Reuters reported that the U.S. said a Russian invasion of Ukraine is "imminent" and that top U.S. diplomats are changing their travel plans. The U.S. earlier said there is no evidence Russia has pulled its troops away from the border, and in fact the U.S. says Russia has added 7,000 more troops.
Global stock markets were mixed to weaker overnight. The U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward weaker openings when the New York day session begins.
The marketplace took some note of the FOMC minutes that were released Wednesday afternoon. The U.S. stocks market was somewhat assuaged as the minutes did not seem as hawkish as some market watchers expected. However, others said the minutes contained no surprises.
KITCO