AGE Daily Gold Update

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

4/5/2024: Gold rockets to another record

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin — The monumental rally in gold continued today, with the New York spot price rocketing 1.6% higher to close at $2,325.70, another new record high. The impressive rise came despite a robust jobs report that lifted yields, the dollar, and Wall Street. Silver added 1%, to $27.50 an ounce.

Hitting a series of new all-time highs, gold rose nearly 5% this week to post a 13% gain for the year. Silver picked up a whopping 11% this week to push its 2024 advance to 14%.

The BLS reported US nonfarm payrolls added 303,000 new jobs in March, far more than the 200,000 forecast, while totals for January and February were revised higher by a combined 22,000. The unemployment rate dipped to 3.8% from 3.9% the month before.

Meanwhile, hourly wages increased by a modest 0.3% to lower annualized wage growth to 4.1% from 4.3% in February. Lowering wage pressure has been an important goal for the Fed in its fight against inflation.

The shockingly strong jobs report prompted two more Fed officials to question the imminent need for rate cuts. Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said “we are still not yet at the point” where the central bank can justify lowering interest rates. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said it is “much too early to think about cutting rates.”

Fed fund futures trading puts the odds of a June cut at 55%, down only slightly from yesterday, with three cuts likely this year. Apparently, the markets still believe Jerome Powell, who said earlier this week that three rate cuts are on the table for 2024.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields edged up after the jobs data but remained under 4.4%. Tracking higher with yields, the dollar added a modest 0.2% against major rivals. All three major US stock indexes added around 1%.

Typically, increases in yields and the dollar weigh on gold, but bullish sentiment is carrying the metal despite these traditional headwinds. Gold is a global market. Demand is being driven by the worldwide appetite for havens against currency risk and geopolitical uncertainty.

In addition, aggressive central bank purchases and retail physical demand, especially in China, are lifting the global gold price. The World Gold Council reported that the People’s Bank of China bought 22 tonnes of gold in February alone.

Platinum fell 1.4% today but still gained 2.5% this week. Palladium dropped 3.3% for a weekly decline of 1.4%.

At the New York spot close: gold surged $36.90 to $2,325.70; silver climbed 26 cents to $27.50; platinum slipped $13.20 to $930.30; and palladium shed $33.90 to 1,007.40 an ounce.