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Gold Volumes Low & Strong Data Keep Trading Mute

By:
Barry Norman

Gold climbed a bit in the Asian session as it usually does adding $1.50 to reach 1071.50 after taking a significant fall on Wednesday. US data out

Gold Volumes Low & Strong Data Keep Trading Mute

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Gold Volumes Low & Strong Data Keep Trading Mute
Gold Volumes Low & Strong Data Keep Trading Mute
Gold climbed a bit in the Asian session as it usually does adding $1.50 to reach 1071.50 after taking a significant fall on Wednesday. US data out yesterday secured an interest rate increase by the Fed at its December meeting. The big question is now how large and how often, after Goldman Sack’s has predicted 4 rate increases by the end of 2016. The US dollar soared and held above the 100 price level most of the day to move into the holiday at 99.83 after traders sold late in the day as they closed out positions before leaving on holiday.

American factory orders for long-lasting or durable goods rebounded in October to show the first increase in three months, led by a surge in demand for large, commercial airplanes. Meanwhile, the number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by 12,000 to 260,000 in the week before Thanksgiving, indicating that the labor market is continuing its steady path to recovery.

Wednesday’s data keep the Fed on track to raise rates in December, particularly as they “offer a strong gauge of the employment situation, which means we could see a 200,000 job gain in November’s jobs report next Friday.

U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving Day. Stocks will open for a half-day on Friday. No economic data are scheduled for release on either day.

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Safe haven trades eased on Wednesday after diplomacy rather than war will resolve the dispute between Turkey and Russia. Gold rose Tuesday, edging up from a nearly six-year low after Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane near the Syrian border stoked geopolitical fears and triggered an appetite for gold and other assets perceived as havens during conflict. 

In other metals trade, palladium rose $9.80 to trade at $560.30 an ounce, while platinum rose $6 or 0.5%, to $849.50 an ounce.

Copper rebounded off its lows to trade at 2.080 adding 28 points as traders took advantage of weak prices and positive US data to support the metal. Copper fell yesterday, dragged lower by a stronger dollar.  Copper closed down 1% at $2.0490. A stronger dollar puts pressure on copper, which is priced in the U.S. currency and becomes more expensive to foreign buyers when the buck rises.

Prices for the metal are down around 28% since the beginning of the year, dogged by the dollar’s strength and an economic slowdown in China, the world’s biggest copper consumer. Though copper now trades at its lowest level in more than six years, market participants are wary of trying to pick a bottom.

copper

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