Gold and silver prices pulled back on Wednesday after seeing their highest levels in three weeks and three months, respectively. Analysts blamed a rise in Treasury yields and the dollar for the pullback in precious metals.
Price action
-
Gold futures
GCZ23,
+0.90%
due in December were down $16.60, or 1%, to $1,714 per ounce on Comex. -
Silver futures
SIZ22,
-3.34%
expiring in December fell 74 cents, or 3.5%, to $20.36 per ounce. -
Palladium futures
PAZ22,
-2.09%
due in December were off $33.70, or 1.4%, to $2,296 per ounce, while platinum futures
PLF23,
-1.35%
due in January fell $16, or 1.7%, to $917.80 per ounce. -
Copper futures
HGZ22,
-0.37%
due in December were off 3 cents, or 0.9%, to $3.46 per pound.
What analysts are saying
While gold and silver have rallied sharply over the last couple of sessions, precious metals analysts expect that this move upward has now run out of steam, and will require lower Treasury yields and a softer dollar for it to continue.
“We’ve seen a strong recovery in the gold price over the last couple of days but it may need another helping hand to build on that. That will likely require the assistance of lower US yields and a softer dollar which will depend heavily on the incoming data, most notably Friday’s jobs report,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.
The 10-year Treasury yield
TMUBMUSD10Y,
rose 8.4 basis points to 3.703%, while the ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
rose 0.8% to 110.93.
