Gold appeared headed for a sixth straight losing session on Monday, what would be its longest losing streak since early July, as the rising dollar and higher Treasury yields continued to weigh on precious metals.
Price action
- Gold futures GCZ22, -0.73% for December delivery were trading down $13.30, or 0.8%, to $1,749.60 per ounce on Comex.
- Silver futures SIU22, -0.65% for September delivery were down 17.4 cents, or 0.9%, to $18.895 per ounce as losses in silver continued to outpace losses for gold. The precious metal has fallen for five straight sessions.
- Palladium PAU22, -6.56% for September delivery was off $127.40, or 6%, to trade at $2,004 per ounce, while platinum PLV22, -2.44% for October delivery fell $25.60, or 2.9%, to $862.40 per ounce.
- Copper for September HGU22, -1.13% delivery was off 5.1 cents, or 1.4%, to $3.6135 per pound.
What analysts are saying
Carlo Alberto De Casa, an external market analyst at Kinesis Money, said the dollar’s rebound over the past week has created a “challenging scenario for precious metals.”
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.54%, a gauge of the dollar’s strength against six rivals, was up 0.5% at 108.725, nearing a multi-decade high reached last month.
“If the dollar and Treasury yields continue to trend higher, it is only
a matter of time before gold retests the 2022 lows,” analysts at Sevens Report Research wrote in Monday’s newsletter.
Investors may get hints from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on the plan for interest rates when he delivers remarks from the Fed’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo. on Friday.
“Markets are now pricing the interest rates to be in the region of 3.5 – 3.75% by the end of this year. Therefore, it is not a surprise that in the last few trading days we have seen a challenging scenario for precious metals,” De Casa said.
Meanwhile, copper was lower to start the week “on the same dismal data
that weighed on energy” — the recent soft economic data from China, said analysts at Sevens Report Research.
Still, some upbeat economic data from the U.S. helped prices for the industrial metal pare most of its losses last week.
“Copper prices are in a near-term uptrend…but we will be watching support near $3.50 closely as a break below would be a negative macroeconomic signal,” the Sevens Report analysts said.