Gold News & Info

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold gained 0.2% to close at $1,999 after weaker-than-expected GDP for Q1 offset higher yields and rising risk appetite to spark safe-haven buying.

Gross Domestic Product grew a meager 1.1% in the first quarter, well below the 2.6% rate of Q4 2022, providing concrete evidence that the economy is stumbling under the weight of Fed rate hikes. Declining business was the main culprit, outweighing surprisingly strong consumer spending.

Potentially of more concern to the Fed, the quarterly GDP report showed inflation rising at an annual rate of 4.2% compared to 3.7% during Q4.

Separately, new jobless claims fell by 16,000 last week, reversing an uptrend since January and suggesting layoffs may have plateaued.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields climbed above 3.52% as traders speculated that the hot inflation data will convince the Fed to raise interest rates when it meets next week. Higher yields pressure gold by increasing the opportunity cost for holding it instead of bonds as a safe-haven asset.

Fed fund futures trading is now pricing-in an 86% likelihood that the central bank will raise rates by 25 basis points, up from 72% yesterday.

Also checking gold's rise, Wall Street rallied on strong earnings from tech giants like Google, Meta, and Microsoft, fueling risk appetite across all three major indexes. The Dow rose 1.6%, the S&P 500 jumped 2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq surged 2.4%.

The other precious metals were mixed, with silver rising 0.6% while platinum and palladium fell 1.2% and 1.2%, respectively.

At the Comex close: June gold gained $3 to $1,999; July silver added 14 cents, to $25.21; July platinum dropped $12.80 to $1,093.20; and June palladium fell $16 to $1,492.40 an ounce.