AGE Daily Gold Update

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

2/6/2020: Gold rises for second session

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin — Gold added 0.5% to close at $1,570, rising for a second day as lingering uncertainty about the coronavirus and global economy buoyed safe-haven demand despite rising risk appetite.

Confirmed cases of the SARS-like illness have climbed to more than 28,300 with a death toll of at least 565, according to the global tracker established by Johns Hopkins. The virus has spread to at least 20 countries, though all fatalities have occurred in China except for one each in Hong King and the Philippines.

Beijing redoubled its efforts to contain the economic fallout from the pandemic amid plummeting local stock values, closed factories, and disrupted global supply chains. After announcing $170 billion in stimulus and lowering interest rates earlier this week, the Chinese government said today it will cut tariffs in half on $75 billion in goods imported from the US and work toward eliminating all tariff increases in the future.

Perhaps whistling in the dark, Wall Street cheered the measures and rallied for a third day, with all three major US stock indexes climbing toward record levels as traders embraced risk. The Dow and S&P 500 added 0.3% while the Nasdaq rose 0.5%.

Adding to the upbeat sentiment, the US productivity rose in 2019 at the fastest pace in nine years, according to government data, boosting profits.

The dollar picked up 0.2% against major rivals as the pound euro fell on trade uncertainty surrounding Brexit. Weak industrial data from Germany also pressured the common currency, pushing it to two-month lows.

The other precious metals were mixed with silver jumping 1.2% while platinum and palladium shed 2% and 3.9%, respectively.

At the Comex close: April gold rose $7.20 to $1,570; March silver picked up 22 cents to $17.82; April platinum dropped $19.70 to $967.40; and March palladium lost nearly $89.50 to $2,237.20 an ounce.