AGE Daily Gold Update

AGE Daily Gold Update presents a recap on today's action in the precious metals markets. View archives.

7/1/2019: Gold falls on trade war pause

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin — Gold fell 1.7% to close under $1,390 as a cease-fire in the US-China trade war boosted stocks and the dollar, eroding demand for safe-haven assets. Gold rose nearly 8% in June on trade worries and expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates at their July meeting.

Meeting on the sidelines at the G-20 summit in Japan over the weekend, President Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to resume stalled trade negotiations. Tariffs will remain where they are for now and China will reportedly buy more goods from US farmers. While concessions were minimal on both sides, the gesture helped to reduce simmering tension between the world's two largest economies.

Investors cheered the détente, lifting the S&P 500 0.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 0.7%. Technology shares benefitted from President Trump's decision to ease restrictions on Huawei, allowing US companies to sell products to the Chinese tech giant.

Soft US manufacturing data capped Wall Street's rise after the ISM manufacturing index grew in June at it slowest pace in 18 months, hurt by trade conflicts with China and Mexico.

The dollar jumped 0.7% against major rivals as traders shifted away from safe-haven currencies like the yen and Swiss franc. US Treasurys sold off, driving yields higher, as investors embraced risk.

The other precious metals were mostly lower, with sliver and platinum dropping 1% and 0.5%, respectively, while palladium added 0.5%.

At the Comex close: August gold fell $24.40 to $1,389.30; September silver dropped 15 cents to $15.19; October platinum slid $3.90 to $837.20 an ounce and September added $7.10, to $1,544.0 an ounce.