In early August, an ounce of gold cost $ 2,073.41. Since then, the gold price has been in correction. Despite many worries in the world and the liquidity glut from central banks, the safe haven is no longer in motion.
Behind the precious metal lies a weak start to the year given the strength of the dollar and rising bond yields. In January alone it posted a minus of more than 2.5 percent. And also in the first four trading days in February it went down: gold lost 3.20 percent since the turn of the month.
At around 3:59 p.m., spot gold fell 2.61 percent to $ 1,786.07. It would be the biggest daily loss since early January. At $ 1,785.45, it marked the lowest level since December 1.
The April delivery gold future fell 2.54 percent to $ 1,788.80.
The price of silver was down 2.13 percent to $ 26.29 an ounce.
“Falling US infection numbers and overall robust US economic data are weighing on gold and silver prices, which means markets are not currently focused on a possible recovery in physical demand,” said Peter Grant, VP and Market Analyst at Zaner Metals LLC and Tornado Precious Metals Solutions.
“In the long term we remain optimistic about gold, platinum and silver,” says Grant, but because of the dynamics on the underside, the expert advises his customers to stay on the sidelines and only return to the market as soon as the first signs show one Show stabilization, after which one can go hunting for bargains again.
Rising US yields and a firmer dollar put precious metals under pressure on Thursday. While the US dollar hit its two-month high, 10-year US Treasury yields rose to a three-week high.
Higher yields usually weigh on the price of gold because buying bonds becomes more attractive compared to precious metal.
One reason for the rise in bond yields was that the number of initial jobless claims last week was slightly higher than originally expected, but labor market progress in the US remains modest at best.
Initial jobless claims for the week ended January 30 totaled 779,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. Analysts had expected a value of 830,000.
Investors are also looking forward to the progress made around the $ 1.9 trillion corona aid package. Yesterday, US President Joe Biden said he was “not married” to the total after the Republicans again dismissed the price tag as too high.
“The biggest risk to gold is a stronger (economic) recovery in the wake of the vaccine distribution and an accompanying increase in US bond yields,” Reuters quoted Lachlan Shaw, head of natural resources at the National Australia Bank.
However, precious metal prices could also be propped up if new virus variants prevent distribution from going smoothly, he added.
