Precious metals prices sunk Wednesday morning as gold, silver and platinum reversed part of a recent bounce.
Price action
- Gold futures expiring in August GCQ22, +0.19% were up 0.1%, or $1.60, to $1,853 per ounce.
- Silver SI00 futures expiring in July were down 1.5%, or 35 cents, to $21.
- Platinum PL00 expiring in July was off 1.2% to trade just above the $1,000 threshold.
- Palladium futures PA00, -1.60% were off 1.5% to $1,955.
- In the industrial metals space, copper HG00, -0.32% for July deliver was flat at $4.42
What analysts are saying
A strong dollar DXY, +0.11% and higher Treasury yields TMUBMUSD10Y, 3.016% — most notably the 10-year Treasury yield, which was holding above 3% — were blamed for stealing some of the shine from industrial metals. Gold competes with the dollar and Treasuries as a “safe haven” asset, and higher Treasury yields tend to make bonds a more attractive choice.
“Yellow metal traders at mid-week are seeing the bullish elements of higher crude oil prices and a still-wobbly U.S. stock market, but also the bearish aspects of rising bond yields and a recent rebound in the U.S. dollar index,” said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco.
As for the U.S. dollar USDJPY, +1.22%, it climbed to a new multi-decade high against the Japanese yen, with one dollar buying more than 134 yen as of Wednesday.
Gold closed modestly higher on Tuesday.