Gold Down as Hopes for Global COVID-19 Economic Recovery Rise
By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was down on Wednesday morning in Asia, retreating from the two-week high that it hit during the previous session as positive data bolstered hopes for a quick economic recovery from COVID-19.
Gold futures edged down 0.20% to $1,739.45 by 12:08 PM ET (4:08 AM GMT). Falling U.S. Treasury yields saw investors turn from the safe-haven yellow metal, while the dollar slipped to a two-week low.
In the U.S., Tuesday’s JOLTs job openings report for February said that vacancies rose to a two-year high of 7.367 million and added that hiring also recorded its biggest gain in nine months. Meanwhile, China’s Caixin services Purchasing Managers Index for March was 54.3. Investors now await further Chinese data, including the Consumer Price and Producer Price indexes, due on Friday.
The IMF also forecast that global growth could reach 6% in 2021 at the opening of its 2021 spring meetings co-hosted with the World Bank on Apr. 5. The figure is the strongest expansion in at least four decades, thanks to unprecedented public spending, primarily by the U.S., to fight COVID-19. The meetings are scheduled to continue virtually until Apr. 11.
On the COVID-19 front, U.S. President Joe Biden moved up the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility target for all American adults to Apr. 19, further widening the vaccine rollout.
SPDR Gold Trust (P:GLD), the largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund globally, said its holdings fell 0.4% to 1,029.04 tons on Tuesday from 1,032.83 tons on Monday.
In other precious metals, silver was down 0.3% and palladium fell 0.4%, while platinum rose 0.6%.
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