Gold News & Info

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold slipped 0.4% to close under $1,843 as yields and the dollar rose on mixed data and expectations of more interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, pressuring alternative assets.

The S&P Global flash index for February showed the US services sector expanding for the time since last summer, barely edging into expansion with a reading of 50.5, where anything under 50 is contraction. Roughly two-things of GDP comes from service industries. Manufacturing, however, remained in contraction.

Existing homes sales fell 0.7% in January, according to the National Association of Realtors, with the overall level of activity dropping to the lowest since October 2010. It was the twelfth straight month of declines.

Meanwhile, mortgage rates rose to the highest level of the year, with the 30-year fixed approaching 6.9%. Rates have risen a full percentage point in the past two weeks as the Fed has signaled plans to keep raising interest rates.

Fed fund futures traders now see a 24% chance that the Fed will hike by 50 basis points at its meeting in March, up from 18% yesterday, 9% one week ago, and zero a month ago. Stubbornly high inflation and a strong job market have caused numerous Fed officials to call for more aggressive monetary tightening in the past week.

Wall Street had its worst day of 2023, with all three major indexes losing more than 2% on concerns about higher interest rates and their potentially detrimental effect on the economy.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields jumped to the highest level in three months at just under 4% on the shifting rate view. Higher yields weigh on gold by increasing the opportunity cost for holding it instead of bonds as a safe-haven asset.

Tracking higher with yields, the dollar added 0.3% to approach a six-week peak against major rivals, pressuring gold it pricier in other currencies.

The other precious metals were higher, with silver rising 0.8% while platinum and palladium added 3% and 2.1%, respectively.

At the Comex close: April gold slipped $7.70 to $1,842.50; March silver added 18 cents, to $21.89; April platinum picked up $27.20 to $948.60; and March palladium gained $28.20 to $1,520.70 an ounce.