Gold and silver futures traded lower on Wednesday morning, headed for a second day in the red, as three sessions of rising Treasury yields helped dim some of the precious metals’ luster.
Futures for the yellow metal GC00, -0.71% were off $15.60, or 0.8%, to $1,832, while silver SI00, -0.24% futures were off 10 cents, or 0.5%, to $21.50.
Analysts with Commerzbank’s commodity research desk said that gold and silver are reversing some of their gains over the past two weeks because of rising yields in the U.S., which have risen modestly following the Memorial Day Weekend holiday. They also blamed a historic European inflation print this week and the European Central Bank’s plans to raise interest rates in July for souring the precious metal’s allure.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury TMUBMUSD10Y, 2.884% advanced 9.4 basis points to 2.842% from 2.748% late Friday. To be sure, Treasury yields still finished the month of May lower, snapping a five-month streak of gains. Gold, meanwhile has fallen 4% over the past month despite its recent bout of strength.
U.S. stocks, meanwhile, traded lower on Wednesday, the first session of June, after the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial average eked out monthly gains for May (while the Nasdaq Composite finished the month in the red for the fourth time in the last six months).
In other metals trading, platinum PL00, +1.35% and palladium PA00, +0.26% were both trading higher on the day, with platinum up 0.5% to $973 per ounce, while palladium was up 0.3% to $2,012.
Finally, copper HG00, +0.47% was off 0.1% to $4.29 per pound.