Gold News & Info

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold gained 0.6% to close near $1,498 after a surprise bond-buying program from the Fed and uncertainty over the new US-China trade deal boosted demand for safe havens.

The Federal Reserve announced on Friday that it will begin a massive program of buying US Treasury bills to create additional liquidity in money markets. Beginning next week, the Fed will expand its balance sheet by $60 billion per month at least until Q2 of 2020.

While Fed Chair Jerome Powell was careful to say the program is not a form of emergency stimulus, it is virtually identical to the three phases of quantitative easing undertaken by the Fed to pull the economy out of the liquidity crunch caused by the global financial crisis in 2009.

Quantitative easing help gold rally to an all time high above $1,900 as investors sought to offset the currency risk associated with cheap money.

Gold was also boosted today by risk-off sentiment after reports that China is not ready to sign the Phase One trade deal announced late Friday by President Trump. The partial plan has China buying $40 to $50 in US agricultural production in exchange for the postponement of additional tariffs of 5% on $250 in Chinese imports.

Capping gold's gains, oil fell 2.3% as doubts about the trade pact caused worries about global demand. Gold often trades in sympathy with oil as a hedge against energy-related inflation.

The other precious metals were mostly higher, with silver and palladium rising 1% while platinum edged down 0.1%.

At the Comex close: December gold gained $8.90 to $1,497.60; December silver rose 17 cents to $17.71; January platinum dipped 90 cents to $899.40; and December palladium added $16.90, to $1,687 an ounce.