Daily Gold Update

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold dipped 0.1% to close just above $1,850 as more hawkish Fed-speak and falling oil prices offset haven demand from weak economic indicators to pressure alternative stores of value. The metal posted a decline of 1.3% for its third consecutive weekly loss.

Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said today that the central bank has "a long way to go" before reaching its 2% inflation goal, and rate hikes will need to continue "until we see a lot more progress on that."

Bowman's comments come one day after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester separately advocated for a half-point increase in March.

Stronger economic data in recent weeks, including a blowout January jobs report and robust retail sales data, have forced traders to brace for the increasing likelihood of bigger rate hikes and more of them. The shifting rate view has lifted bond yields and the dollar, pressuring gold for the third straight week.

New data threw some shade onto that brightening economic outlook, however. The Conference Board's index of US leading economic indicators fell another 0.3% in January for its eleventh straight monthly decline, causing its senior economist to forecast a US recession in 2023.

The LEI is a combination of 10 indicators designed to show whether the economy is getting better or worse.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields and initially rose on the Fed speak but then retreated after the LEI data. The dollar also retraced its earlier gains but held near a six-week high.

Also under pressure from the Fed's increasingly hawkish rate view, US benchmark WTI crude fell 3.2% to $76 per barrel to notch a weekly decline of 4.2%. Gold often trades in sympathy with oil as a hedge against energy-related inflation.

The other precious metals were mixed for the day and lower for the week. Silver was flat for the session but fell 1.6% this week. Platinum lost 1% for a weekly decline of 3.2%. Palladium shed 2.2% for a weekly loss of 2.1%.

At the Comex close: April gold dipped $1.60 to $1,850.20; March silver was flat at $21.72; April platinum dropped $9.60 to $921.40; and March palladium lost $33.20, to $1,492.50 an ounce.