(Kitco News) – After a positive close at the end of last week, gold and silver start this week marginally lower. The yellow metal is now trading firmly above the $1800/oz level at $1813/oz. In the rest of the commodities complex, spot WTI has moved nearly half a percent in the red but copper has jumped 0.57% to trade at $4.34/lb.
In terms of risk sentiment in the Asia Pac area, the Nikkei 225 (0.54%) and ASX (0.22%) traded well but the Shanghai Composite traded just under flat. Futures in Europe are pointing towards a marginally positive open.
In the FX market, NZD and AUD struggled overnight but the rest of the majors were pretty static. In the crypto space, bitcoin is still struggling to break the elusive $50k market and is currently trading 2% lower at $47,800.
Looking at some of the major news stories,
ECB’s Villeroy says there s no risk of higher inflation at this stage. He added Financing conditions have improved since June and interest rates will remain favourable.
As the German regional CPI’s kick off today, first up North-Rhine Westphalia (August) CPI’s reading reached +4.2% vs +4.1% y/y prior.
New Zealand PM Ardern says Auckland lockdown extended, remain on Level 4 alert for another 2 weeks.
There has been a new record high daily (1290) COVID-19 cases for Sydney / NSW (Australia’s largest population city and state).
Japanese Retail sales for July +2.4% y/y (expected 2.1%)
In the U.S. Gulf, (Hurricane Ida) more than 95% Gulf crude oil, 94% natural gas offline.
There have been some media reports stating the OPEC+ group could reconsider plans to add more oil barrels this week.
Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include German CPI, EZ consumer confidence, U.S. pending home sales and comments from ECB’s Schnabel. The U.K. is off for a bank holiday today.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
Read More:Gold and silver kick off the week marginally lower heading into the European open
2021-08-30 06:48:00
