While Germany has agreed to a $1 trillion bailout package for EU countries suffering from debt woes, investors remain concerned about international economic stability, particularly as China is signaling its intent to curtail spending. Investors are rushing to US Treasuries, due to their perceived safety. See the following article from The Street for more on this.
Gold prices Friday settled under $1,180 as investors opted for cash amid global uncertainty, options expiration and a struggling equity market.
Gold for June delivery ended down $12.50 to $1,176.10 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold price Friday has traded as high as $1,187.60 and as low as $1,166. The U.S. dollar index was slipping 0.76% to $85.36 while the euro rallied 0.91% to $1.25 against the dollar. The spot gold price Friday was down over $5, according to Kitco’s gold index, as bargain hunters tentatively bought the physical metal.
Gold prices have lost 4.5% or $56 this week as global turmoil forced investors to sell gold, one of the only assets to return a recent profit, in order to raise money. The futures market ended down double digits versus the physical spot price as traders were forced to sell some gold positions ahead of Tuesday’s options expirations and to cover equity losses.
Germany has approved the $1 trillion bailout package for European Union nations, but the news did little to calm investor jitters. Worries that inflation and budget cuts across Europe would crimp any kind of growth were stifling markets as no one wanted to be heavily invested in the short term.
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As investors dumped gold, they sought the perceived safety of U.S Treasuries. The yield on U.S. 10-year bonds fell to 3.2% as investors piled in. Also contributing to lower gold prices is Friday’s options expiration, which typically results in a slight selloff for gold.
Analysts are looking at $1,150 as a key resistance area as bargain-hunters en masse stay on the sidelines. “Below that there’s really not a lot of support until you get down to the $1,100 level,” says David Morgan, founder of Silver-Investor.com. “The insiders have been out of the market for a very long time. We’ve been in a distribution pattern for a very long time.” Uncertainty could crimp buying and weigh on gold prices over the short term.
Adding to market woes are fears that China will slow its spending. China said its economy grew 11.9% in the first quarter and since then the government has been taking steps to curb growth. The central bank raised the amount banks need to hold in their reserves in order take money out of circulation to combat inflation. The less money in circulation, the less people and companies will spend.
China is the biggest lender to the U.S. as well as one of the largest consumers of metals, especially silver and copper, which are used in construction. A prolonged slowdown in China would reverberate worldwide as the country is credited with jump-starting the global economic recovery.
Silver prices were up 6 cents to $17.65 while copper was rebounding 11 cents to $3.06.
Gold mining stocks, a more risky but profitable way to invest in gold, were mixed. Barrick Gold(ABX) was down over 1% at $40.51 while Newmont Mining(NEM) was slightly lower $51.65. Other large mining companies Kinross Gold(KGC)Â and Goldcorp(GG) were trading at $16.48 and $40.31, respectively.
Shares of AngloGold Ashanti(AU) were lower by 2.44% to $38.36 while Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold(FCX)Â was popping over 3% to $65.71 after the company said it would beat 2010 production targets for its copper mine in Congo. Mining stocks could see some long-term downside if Australia’s steep mining tax hike threatens to spread to other countries such as China and Brazil.
Shares of the gold exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust(GLD), were falling slightly to $115.20.
This article has been republished from The Street. You can also view this article at The Street, an investment news and analysis site.
