Daily Gold Update

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold gained 0.4% to close above $1,219, extending its winning streak to three days, as emails linking Donald Trump Jr. to Russia and dovish comments from Janet Yellen boost demand for safe-haven assets.

The President's son released emails yesterday showing his interest in an offer, made last July, of damaging information on Hillary Clinton from a Russian lawyer with established ties to Putin. The younger Trump met with the Russian a week later, accompanied by his brother-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his father's campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

While the Trump administration maintains that nothing of consequence occurred, the revelations are raising new concerns that its pro-growth agenda may be further hampered by the deepening controversy.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen told the House Financial Services Committee that interest rates will "not have to rise all that much further" to reach equilibrium, and that future increases will be gradual. She singled out soft inflation as a concern going forward. Low rates support gold by pressuring the dollar, which makes dollar-denominated commodities less expensive overseas..

Also supporting gold, the Fed's Beige Book downgraded growth to "slight to moderate" from "modest to moderate" in prior months.

Equities rallied as traders took Yellen's comments to imply low interest rates for the foreseeable future. The Dow and S&P 500 gained 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively, while the Global Dow added 0.9%.

The other precious metals also gained, with silver adding 0.9% while platinum and palladium climber 2.3% and 1.7%, respectively.

At the Comex close: August delivery gold gained $4.40 to $1,219.10; September silver for added 14 cents, to $15.89; October platinum climbed $20.30 to $919; and September palladium for picked up $14.70 to $861.55 an ounce.