Daily Gold Update

Source:Matt Warden, American Gold Exchange

AustinWith very little US economic data on the calendar today, gold consolidated just below last Friday's close of nearly $1,820 per ounce, slipping 0.4% to end the day at $1,812.20. Hurricane Ida made landfall this weekend, leaving still untold damage in its wake and disrupting oil and gasoline production. And market participants continued to digest additional commentary from this weekend's central-banker summit in Jackson Hole as they await employment readings later in the week.

On the economic calendar today was pending home sales, which dropped 1.8% month-over-month and 8.5% year-over-year. This is the second straight month of decline and a sign the housing market in the US may be cooling off, even with mortgage rates still under 3% for most buyers.

Gasoline futures ended the day at a 1-month high as Hurricane Ida knocked 13% refining capacity offline. Capacity may be diminished for up to a week and possibly longer due to extensive flooding, damage, and power outages.

Overlooked by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's rather dovish speech that kicked-off this past weekend's Jackson Hole symposium was a speech by former vice chair for financial supervision, Mr. Don Kohn. Kohn advocated for more regulations to counteract 'urgent' risks to financial stability, including historical highs in many asset values, record-high government and private debt levels relative to GDP, and the lack of insight into the burgeoning "stablecoin" cryptocurrency markets. He also stated the government appears to be in a poor position to respond to a bursting asset bubble or debt crisis given the already extremely accommodative monetary and fiscal policy, echoing sentiment shared by many high-profile investors of late.

The economic calendar gets busier as the week unfolds, with readings on consumer confidence tomorrow, ADP and ISM reports on Wednesday, jobless claims and economic output readings on Thursday, and August nonfarm payrolls on Friday. Because most Federal Reserve participants believe their inflation mandate has now been met, future policy decisions will be highly contingent upon improving employment conditions, increasing the significance of this week's incoming employment data.

The other precious metals were mixed today, with silver and platinum matching gold's modest loss of 0.4% and palladium rallying a strong 2.9%.

At the Comex close: December gold dipped $7.30 to $1,812.20; December silver slipped 10 cents to $24.06; October platinum lost $4.40 to $1,002.10; and December palladium soared $71.00 to $2,479.10 an ounce.