Gold on Friday posted its first weekly decline this month as investors weighed the outlook for fresh US stimulus and rising COVID-19 cases in Europe.
US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin on Thursday told US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi that US President Donald Trump would lobby personally to get reluctant US Senate Republicans behind any deal that they reach.
Pelosi told Democratic colleagues that a divide persists with the White House in negotiations.
The US dollar has held up during the stalemate, while surging COVID-19 cases in Europe lifted the greenback on demand for an investment haven.
“The yellow metal is now tracking closely to other momentum-crash precedents, which suggest continued range-bound markets and consolidation until the next catalyst,” TD Securities analysts led by Bart Melek said in a note.
Bullion might be prone to “a CTA liquidation” with the trigger to spur some selling at US$1,893 an ounce, they said.
Spot gold fell about 0.3 percent to US$1,901.46 in New York, for a 1.5 percent decline this week.
Silver dropped 0.2 percent, palladium declined 1.1 percent and platinum was little changed.
Gold futures for December delivery on the Comex fell 0.13 percent to settle at US$1,906.40, down 1 percent for the week.
“The concern for precious metals traders, and other financial market players, is the size of the second fiscal stimulus package after the election” in the US, Phillip Futures Pte senior manager for commodities Avtar Sandu said.
Heightened concern over the economic impact of the resurgent virus in Europe and elsewhere means inflationary pressures would remain weak and that central banks would likely keep interest rates low for even longer, ThinkMarkets analyst Fawad Razaqzada said.
“We have already seen benchmark government bond yields drop noticeably again, especially for European countries,” which boosts the appeal of lower-yielding or non-interest-bearing assets, such as gold and silver, he said.
Money managers in Asia are deploying a range of traditional and unconventional strategies to cushion any losses as they brace for turbulence in the lead-up and aftermath of the US presidential election.
Several investors suggest more conventional hedges, such as the yen and gold, as well as just holding cash to avoid risk exposure.
Adrian Zuercher, head of global asset allocation at UBS Group AG’s wealth management arm, is optimistic about the months ahead, but still “mindful” of the risks related to the election.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained