Gold News & Info

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold was nearly flat, dipping 70 cents to close at $1,480, as rising equities and bond yields boosted risk appetite while a softer dollar and residual trade-war concerns underpinned demand for alternative stores of value.

Wall Street rallied to new record highs for a third session, with Dow adding 0.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumping 1%, behind upbeat data from China and hopes that the Sino-US trade war may be easing.

Chinese industrial output and retail sales both rose in November, signaling that the world's second-largest national economy may be reversing its recent slowing trend. Separately, Washington and Beijing announced last Friday that the so-called "phase one" trade pact, rolling back some tariffs and increasing agricultural trade, may be signed soon.

Treasury yields rose with the upbeat news as some traders shifted from safety into risk assets.

But others remain skeptical about the outlook for global growth, which has been severely slowed by tit-for-tat tariffs and turmoil for the past 18 months. Few details about the pending agreement have been made public; and Reuters reported today that Chinese trade officials are saying it "does not mean the trade dispute is settled."

The dollar slid 0.2% against major rivals as safe-haven currencies like the yen and Swiss franc rebounded after falling on the trade-deal news last week. A weaker dollar supports gold and other commodities priced in it for global trade.

The other precious metals were higher, with silver rising 0.6% while platinum and palladium added 0.3% and 3.8%, respectively.

At the Comex close: February gold dipped 70 cents to $1,480; March silver rose a dime to $17.11; January platinum added $2.50, to $931.30; and March palladium jumped $72 to $1,963.60 an ounce on global supply concerns.