Daily Gold Update

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold added 0.1% to close near $1,329 as trade worries, soft data, and dovish comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell pressured the dollar and boosted demand for alternative assets. The metal has now risen 3.6% over a five-session winning streak.

Jerome Powell signaled today that the Fed is ready to cut interest rates if the escalating US trade wars harm the economic outlook. Speaking at a conference in Chicago, the Fed Chair vowed to "act appropriately to sustain the expansion" and keep inflation, which fell to 1.4% last month, near the Fed's 2% target.

The dollar fell 0.2% as traders took Powell's comments as a near-certainty that rates will fall this year. CME FedWatch puts the odds of a rate cut by December at 98%, based on Fed fund futures trading. Lower rates support gold by weakening the dollar, thereby making gold less expensive in other currencies.

Also supporting demand for safe havens, factory orders fell 0.8% in April for the second drop in three months. Core orders for durable goods, a closely watched metric for business investment, fell 1%. The sharp declines underscore other data showing a broad slowdown in this key sector as trade turmoil weighs on exports.

The other precious metals were mostly higher, with silver and palladium adding 0.2% and 2%, respectively, while platinum slipped 0.2%.

At the Comex close: August gold added 80 cents, to $1,328.70; July silver rose 3 cents to $14.77; July platinum slid $1.80 to $819.10; and September palladium gained $25.80 to $1,340.80 an ounce.