Gold News & Info

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold finished the week 1.4% higher for its seventh weekly win in the past eight weeks. On Comex today, the metal slipped 0.8% to close above $1,352, with all the losses coming yesterday in electronic trade after President Trump said the dollar will get "stronger and stronger."

On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the weakening dollar is "not a concern" because a "weaker dollar is good for trade." Traders took his comments as new evidence that the Trump administration is abandoning the strong-dollar policy, the norm for two decades. Both Mnuchin and President Trump made similar comments about a weaker dollar last year.

The dollar promptly plunged more than 1% on the Mnuchin statement, propelling gold to close yesterday at a 17-month high near $1,363. Late in the day, however, President Trump contradicted Mnuchin and endorsed the strength of the dollar, causing an after-hours plunge in gold to below $1,350 as the dollar rallied. A rising dollar pressures gold and other commodities denominated in it for international trade by making them more expensive in other currencies.

In today's price action, those trades reversed again, with the dollar falling 0.6% against major rivals while gold recovered somewhat, pushing as high as $1,356 in intraday trading before slipping back in the policy confusion to close above $1,352. While gold rose today from yesterday's after-hours bottom, it remained lower than yesterday's Comex close, and so posted a daily loss for the session.

Also weighing on the buck, economic growth for Q4 of 2017 came in weaker than expected, with GDP rising 2.6%. Inflation rose to 2.8% in the quarter, as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, though remained under 2% year-over-year.

The other precious metals were lower for the day but mixed for the week. Silver dropped 0.8% today but still gained 1.4% this week. Platinum lost 1.3% today and 0.2% this week. Palladium was down 1.1% on the day and 1.2% on the week.

At the Comex close: February gold closed $10.80 lower at $1,352.10; March silver dropped 17 cents to $17.44; April platinum fell $13.70 to $1,018.40; and March palladium slid $12.35 to $1,085.05 an ounce.