Daily Gold Update

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold fell 1% to close at a two-week low under $1,484 as falling oil prices and upbeat corporate earnings dulled demand for alternative assets.

All three major US stock indexes posted gains of more than 1%, approaching record levels, after blue-chip financial and healthcare firms reported better-than-expected profits to start the Q3 corporate earnings seasons.

Also pressuring gold, WTI crude prices fell 1.5% on demand worries after the IMF cut its forecast for global growth to 3% this year, the lowest since the financial crisis in 2008. With high tariffs smothering manufacturing, trade volume growth in the first half of 2019 was 1%, the weakest since 2012.

The dollar rose 0.1% against major rivals as traders weighed the impact of the so-called Phase One trade agreement between the US and China, announced last Friday. If signed, the partial pact will double the amount of US farm products bought by China in exchange for the postponement of additional 5% tariffs on $60 billion in Chinese goods.

The other precious metals were mostly lower, with silver and platinum sliding 1.8% and 1.1%, respectively, while outlier palladium added 0.6% to reach another record high.

At the Comex close: December gold dropped $14.10 to $1,483.50; December silver fell 33 cents to $17.38; January platinum slid $10.20 to $889.20; and December palladium picked up $9.60 to $1,696.60 an ounce.