Daily Gold Update

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold rallied for a fourth session, adding another 0.4% to close near $1,769 as investors sought safety despite sharply higher equities. It was the metal's highest Comex close since October 2012.

Wall Street jumped on indications that the Trump Administration will lift shelter-in-place orders soon, perhaps as early as May 1, to reboot the US economy. Daily fatalities have fallen sharply, and states are starting to establish frameworks to safely transition toward normalcy.

While public health experts warn that re-opening society without adequate testing and control measures could be courting a deeper pandemic, stock markets nonetheless cheered the shift in guidance. The Dow rose 2.4% while the S&P 500 added 3% and the Nasdaq 4%.

Better-than-expected trade data from China also fueled risk appetite. Chinese exports fell 6.6% in March, far less than the 17% plunge in January and February. And imports were down less than 1%, a vast improvement over the 4% reduction during the first two months of the year.

The dollar fell 0.5% against major rivals as Forex investors felt comfortable shifting toward riskier currencies. A weaker dollar supports gold and other commodities by making them less expensive overseas.

Extraordinary easing programs adopted by the Federal Reserve are also undermining the dollar and boosting gold, which thrives when real interest rates are low or negative and cheap cash floods the financial system. The metal rose to its all-time high above $1,900 in 2011, after the Fed took similar–and less severe–measures following the 2008 financial crisis.

The other precious metals were mostly higher, with silver rising 3.8% while platinum and palladium picked up 9.3% and 0.7%, respectively.

At the Comex close: June gold rose $7.50 to $1,768.90; May silver climbed 59 cents to to $16.13; July platinum gained $69.90, to $819.70; and June palladium added$14.70 to $2,185.40 an ounce.