Daily Gold Update

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold eased 0.6% to close under $1,797 in thin holiday trading as investors took profits from last week's 1.1% rise despite falling risk appetite and rising omicron worries.

All three major US stock indexes tumbled 1.2% and the Global Dow dropped 1.3% as the aggressive spread of the omicron covid variant brought the global recovery into question.

The Netherlands went back into lockdown over the weekend and new restrictions are expected in the UK and Italy as governments struggle to contain the latest outbreak.

The new phase of pandemic anxiety comes just as major central banks have begun removing stimulus from their economies and laying plans for raising interest to combat sharply higher inflation.

Compounding growth worries for 2022, Sen. Joe Manchin said yesterday that he will not back President Biden's $2 trillion domestic investment initiative known as Build Back Better, essentially dealing it a fatal blow.

Goldman Sachs dropped its US growth forecast for next year from 3% to 2% because of Manchin's abrupt change of heart.

Gold's pullback was attributed mainly to traders squaring their year-end books and taking profits from last week's rally rather than any significant shift in sentiment toward the metal. Holiday trading is notoriously thin, subjecting markets to outsized swings in either direction.

The other precious metals were also lower, with silver dropping 1.1% while platinum and palladium fell 0.9% and 2.1%, respectively.

At the Comex close: February gold slipped $10.30 to $1,796.40; March silver dropped 24 cents to $22.29; January platinum fell $8.10 to $926.40; and March palladium surrendered $38.90, to $1,745.90 an ounce.