AGE Daily Gold Update

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

4/3/2024: Gold rallies 1.5% to another record

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin — New York spot gold rallied 1.5% to close at $2.294.40, another all-time high, after mixed US data and relatively dovish comments from Jerome Powell pressured the dollar, boosting alternative stores of value. It was the metal’s seventh straight day of gains. Silver rocketed 4.3% higher to $27.06 an ounce.

The US services sector slowed again in March, with the ISM non-manufacturing PMI dropping to a three-month low. As more than two-thirds of Americans are employed in the services sector, the weakening PMI signals the kind of slowdown the Fed has been seeking.

Perhaps more pleasing to the Fed, the ISM reported that prices paid by businesses for inputs tumbled to a four-year low last month, which suggests lower consumer inflation is in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, private payrolls remain strong. ADP reported businesses added 184,000 new jobs in March, the most since last July. The more definitive US nonfarm payrolls report is due Friday.

Speaking at Stanford, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that, while the timing is uncertain, the central bank is still on course to reduce interest rates three times this year, as projected by the revised dot-plot this month. Recent gains in jobs and inflation are just “bumps” in the road, Powell said, and do not change the overall picture for monetary policy.

The dollar lost 0.5% against major rivals on the soft ISM data and mildly dovish words from Powell. A weaker dollar lifts gold and other commodities by making them cheaper in other currencies, boosting demand overseas.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were virtually flat.

Platinum and palladium rose 1.6% and 1.7%, respectively.

At the New York spot close: gold gained $33.40 to $2,294.40; silver jumped $1.12 to $27.06; platinum picked up $15.20 to $937.40; and palladium rose $17.40 to $1,021.70 an ounce.