Gold prices are holding mild gains and silver prices are higher in early U.S. trading Monday. The two precious metals bulls are working to stabilize prices amid their present downtrends on the daily bar charts. It’s a quieter U.S. data week and the summertime doldrums are starting to grip the general marketplace. August gold was last up $9.10 at $4,028.20. September silver prices were last up $0.894 at $57.23.
U.S. pounds Iran for ninth-straight day. The U.S. conducted a ninth straight day of airstrikes on Iran, trying to force that nation to stop shipping attacks and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Shipping through the Strait has been drastically reduced during the recent military escalation. “The American military bombed military targets and communications networks in a three-hour operation ending around 5:30 a.m. Iranian time on Monday. Iran continued to attack U.S. bases in the likes of Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Iraq. The standoff shows no sign of easing, with Iran refusing to relent over Hormuz and insisting it has a right to manage traffic through the waterway,” said a Bloomberg report. “The diplomatic apparatus has been active in recent days, and ideas from some mediators have been conveyed to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said to reporters. The tit-for-tat attacks are getting deadlier. The U.S. military announced the death of a service member in northern Iraq on Saturday during a “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone. That was a day after two other U.S. soldiers were killed in an Iranian attack on Jordan, with another service member still missing from the same strike.
U.S. gasoline price average back above $4 a gallon. U.S. gasoline prices climbed back over the $4-a-gallon mark at the pump as the conflict in the Middle East has escalated, “threatening to exacerbate a global crunch for transportation fuels and stoke inflation,” said Bloomberg. Regular unleaded gasoline averaged $4.003 a gallon, according to daily prices posted by the American Automobile Association, breaking through the $4 dollar threshold after hovering below for a month. Gas prices remained stubbornly high even as crude oil prices fell precipitously in June, dropping as low as $3.79 a gallon before trending back up in early July.
Rubio says China’s Xi still coming to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming trip to America remains on track, days after the U.S. leader’s claims of Chinese election fraud threatened to upend the truce. “We anticipate that the trip is happening in September,” he told reporters before departing for a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Manila and as reported by Bloomberg. “They continue to send over their teams to prepare for it. I’ve heard nothing otherwise.” President Trump last week accused the Chinese government of interfering with U.S. elections in 2020. When asked on Sunday evening if there would be consequences for Beijing’s alleged actions, Trump told reporters: “We’re going to see. We’ll be speaking to them.”
China keeps interest rates at record lows. The People’s Bank of China kept its key lending rates at record lows for a 14th straight month in July, as widely expected. The move reflected caution over the fallout from the conflict in the Middle East, while Q2 GDP growth eased to its lowest level since Q4 2022, although exports remained strongly supported by AI-related demand. The one-year loan prime rate, the benchmark for most corporate and household borrowing, was held at 3.0%. Consumer and producer price pressures persisted amid higher energy prices and supply chain disruptions linked to the Middle East conflict.
The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index near steady. August Nymex WTI crude oil prices are slightly lower and trading around $82.00 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield is presently 4.56%.
Technically, August gold futures are modestly up in early U.S. trading. Prices are trending down on the daily bar chart. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the July high of $4,238.10. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at the June low of $3,955.40. First resistance is seen at $4,050.00 and then at $4,075.00. First support is seen at last week’s low of $3,963.00 and then at $3,955.40. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 2.0
September silver futures are higher early today. The next upside price objective for the bulls is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $65.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $50.00. First resistance is seen at $58.23 and then at $60.00. Next support is seen at last week’s low of $55.00 and then at $53.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 1.5
