AGE Daily Gold Update

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

8/3/2020: Gold inches to new record high

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin — Gold inched up by less than 0.1% to close above $1,987, another record finish, despite rallies in the dollar and equities after upbeat manufacturing data boosted risk appetite. The metal also reached another intraday record near $2,010 before slipping back on profit-taking.

US manufacturing rose in July for the third straight month, with the ISM index registering 54.2%, where everything above 50% means expansion. While encouraging, the reading is somewhat misleading. The index measures the increase from the previous month, not the actual level of production, which remains well-below pre-pandemic levels.

China's manufacturing jumped to the highest level in nine years in July, according to the private Caixin China Index. It was the fifth straight month of expansion in production and overall new orders, although orders for export remained in contraction.

Wall Street rallied on hopes that manufacturing is leading the way toward a global recovery. The Dow jumped nearly 1% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.5%. An upsurge in major mergers also stoked risk appetite after Google acquired 7% of home security firm ADT and Microsoft moved to purchase Tik-Tok.

The dollar picked up 0.3%, rebounding slightly from its 4% plunge in July, its worst month in a decade. A rising dollar typically weighs on gold and other commodities prices in it for global trade by making them more expensive overseas.

The other precious metals were mostly higher, with silver and platinum rising 1% and 1.3%, respectively, while palladium slipped 0.3%.

At the Comex close: December gold added 40 cents, to $1,986.30; September silver rose 20 cents to $24.42; October platinum climbed $12.20 to $931.10; September palladium slid $5.80 to $2,139.50 an ounce.