Tag: Gary S. Wagner

Gold Posts Solid Gains For The Week

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Gold prices closed higher on the day and the week resulting in solid gains. As of 5:50 PM, ET gold futures basis most active June contract is currently up $3.90 or 0.21%, fixed at $1845.10. Considering that gold futures traded to a low this week of $1785 and closed near the highest value this week of $1848.60, it had a good week.

Gold pricing had been under pressure for the fourth consecutive week before this week's trading activity resulting in defined technical chart damage with it breaking below its 200-day moving average last Thursday, May 12. This week's low occurred on Monday, May 16, when prices hit a low of $1785 and traded to a high of $1825 before closing above its opening price on Monday and above Friday's closing price at $1813.60. On Tuesday, gold traded to a higher high and a higher low than Monday, even though gold closed fractionally lower than its opening price. On Wednesday, gold traded to a lower low and a lower high than Tuesday's price action, but that all changed on Thursday. Continue reading "Gold Posts Solid Gains For The Week" →

Gold Suffers Its Fourth Straight Week Of Declines

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Editor’s Note: I will be speaking at an upcoming conference The Vancouver Resource Investment Conference in British Columbia on May 17 and 18. For more information please click the link above.

Gold opened at $1977 on Monday, April 18, and this would mark the beginning of four consecutive weekly declines. As of 5:10 PM EDT gold futures basis, the most active June 2022 Comex contract is fixed at $1810.30 after factoring in today’s decline of $14.30 or 0.78%. Today’s decline in gold occurred without the benefit of dollar strength. The dollar index declined by 0.36% and is currently fixed at 104.515

Kitco Gold Index (KGX)

The image above is a screen-print of the KGX (Kitco Gold Index) which was taken at 4:37 PM EDT. At that time spot gold was fixed at $1810.80 after factoring in a decline of $10.70. Market participants were active sellers resulting in a $14.30 price decline. Dollar weakness provided mild tailwinds adding $3.60 (+0.20%) in value. Continue reading "Gold Suffers Its Fourth Straight Week Of Declines" →

Gold Resilient Amid Market Sentiment Reversal

Posted on by The INO.com Team

This week the Federal Reserve addressed revisions to its current monetary policy in its attempt to reduce the current levels of inflation to an acceptable target. The statement released after the FOMC meeting, coupled with Chairman Powell’s press conference, resulted in extreme volatility in many financial sectors.

Market participants witnessed one of the strongest knee-jerk reactions and complete market sentiment reversal over 24 hours. The initial market sentiment was extremely short-lived as it was followed by a complete turnaround from the initial reaction the following trading day.

The release of the Federal Reserve’s FOMC statement, coupled with Chairman Powell’s press conference, resulted in a major rally in U.S. equities. The S&P 500 gained almost 3%, the largest daily gain in two years. Equities overall experienced the best Fed-day return since 2011. It significantly impacted gold, moving the precious yellow metal higher. Concurrently, the dollar had a significant decline losing almost 1%, and yields on U.S. Treasuries were also significantly declining. Continue reading "Gold Resilient Amid Market Sentiment Reversal" →

Gold Bounces But Couldn't Hold Friday's Highs

Posted on by The INO.com Team

June 2022 gold futures opened Friday morning at $1895.80, far above Thursday’s low of $1871. Trading to a high of $1921.30 and settled in New York up 1.1% at $1911.70. However, on Fridays, Globex trading remains open until 6 PM EDT before closing for the weekend. As of 5:10 EDT, gold has moved back below $1900 and is currently fixed at $1896.90, a net gain of $5.60 or 0.30% in after-hours trading.

Gold Futures Daily Chart

The tremendous price swings evident in gold over the last couple of days likely resulted from multiple factors influencing gold prices. Investors continue to focus on next week’s FOMC meeting. It is widely anticipated that the Fed will enact a .50 percent interest rate hike which will go into effect at the end of next week’s meeting. Concurrently it is widely believed that the Federal Reserve will begin to reduce its balance sheet assets over the next three years. Economists polled by Bloomberg news believe that the Federal Reserve will reduce its balance sheet from the current level of $8.8 trillion to $6.4 trillion by the conclusion of 2024. Continue reading "Gold Bounces But Couldn't Hold Friday's Highs" →

Gold Declines As Fed Prepares To Fight Inflation

Posted on by The INO.com Team

The Federal Reserve’s next FOMC meeting is just under two weeks away, and market participants are gaining insight from Chairman Powell and other Federal Reserve voting members. Recent statements by Chairman Powell have indicated a major shift in his position regarding inflation. Up until his most recent statements, he maintained that inflation levels had peaked, were transitory, and would begin to decline. However, he has been forced to reevaluate those assumptions based on the reality that the CPI is currently at 8.5% for March, and the PCE index came in at 6.4% in February. PCE numbers for March will be released on April 29.

Statements by all members of the Federal Reserve have intrinsically contained subtle changes in words used to describe their forward guidance; this was not the case this week when Chairman Powell addressed the issue of inflation head-on.

For the first time, Powell was forced to acknowledge that “it is appropriate to be moving a little more quickly... Our goal is to use our tools to get demand and supply back in synch…and do so without a slowdown that amounts to a recession... It is going to be very challenging.”

During the March FOMC meeting, the Federal Reserve began its process of interest rate normalization or “lift-off” by raising the Fed Funds rate from virtually zero (0% to .25%) by .25% taking interest rates to 25 – 50 basis points.

The most recent inflationary data indicates that Americans are experiencing the highest inflationary pressure since January 1982, which makes it almost certain Continue reading "Gold Declines As Fed Prepares To Fight Inflation" →