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Precious Metals Fall As Trade War Woes Keep Dollar Firm amid Holiday Thin Market

By:
Colin First
Updated: Sep 3, 2018, 11:47 UTC

Gold slightly fell on Monday as the dollar remained firm on worries over intensifying Sino-U.S. trade tensions.

Gold Rises upon Market Uncertainty

Gold fell on Monday as the dollar remained firm on worries over intensifying Sino-U.S. trade tensions, especially after an impasse in trade talks between the United States and Canada. Spot Gold is trading at $1201.35 up 0.02% on the day after hitting intra-day low of $ 1,195.36 while US gold futures GCcv1 fell 0.2%  to $1,204.90 an ounce.

U.S. President Donald Trump has told his aides he is ready to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of imports from China as soon as a public comment period on the plan ends later this week on Thursday. If the new tariffs are imposed this week, then gold might go down further to around $1,180 levels.

Trade War Fear Resulted in Subdued Demand For Precious Metals

Gold prices look likely to remain under pressure this week with the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates to the front of metal traders’ minds ahead of Friday’s U.S. jobs report. The non-farm payrolls report for August is due out on Friday and is expected to show that the economy added 190,000 jobs while the unemployment rate ticked lower.

Concerns over trade tensions and emerging market turmoil will also remain in focus. Last week the U.S. reached a deal with Mexico aimed at overhauling the North American Free Trade Agreement, but talks with Canada stalled hours before a Friday deadline. With trade war fears on multiple fronts pressuring global market investors’ sentiment and demand for precious metals are going down. Spot Silver XAGUSD is trading at $14.50 down 0.19% on the day.

Oil prices fell on Monday amid rising supply from OPEC and the United States, outweighing concerns that falling Iranian output will tighten markets once US sanctions bite from November. The output from the producer cartel of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose by 220,000 barrels per day (bpd) between July and August, to a 2018-high of 32.79 million bpd, a Reuters survey found. Output was boosted by a recovery in Libyan production and as Iraq’s southern exports hit a record. As of writing this article, spot Crude WTIUSD is trading at $70.44/b down 0.07% on the day.

About the Author

Colin specializes in developing trading strategies and analyze financial instruments both technically and fundamentally. Colin holds a Bachelor of Engineering From Milwaukee University.

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