Series of Events await for the precious metals market

Gold has been on a five month high, where prices climbed on Monday, with declines in a leading dollar index, Treasury yields and the U.S. stock market, as well as comments from a well-known fund manager, prompting prices to settle at their highest in just over a week.

The gains in gold come ahead of key central-bank policy decisions this week and uncertainty around concrete trade developments between the U.S. and China.

There were a host of reasons responsible for this positive splurge in gold prices-

US Dollar - On Monday, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index was down 0.4% at 97.054. Gold is often sensitive to movements in the dollar. A weaker U.S. unit typically boosts demand for commodities priced in dollars as it makes them less expensive to users of other currencies.

US stock - Benchmark U.S. stock indexes, meanwhile, traded broadly lower as gold futures settled, after ending last week in a rout that pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average back into correction territory. Stock weakness generally supports gold resulting in an upward movement.

Fed rate hike - Market expectations for 2019 Fed rate increases, once put at three to four more increases, have also begun to lessen on the back of dovish comments from Fed officials, including Chairman Jerome Powell. Fed rate-hike expectations are plummeting. Fed fund futures imply only a good 70% probability of a rate hike at the Fed’s meeting next week, with the probability of another by the end of 2019 likewise at only around 70%.

Expert advice - Double line Capital Founder Jeff Gundlach predicted the U.S. dollar would struggle in the coming new year, and that U.S. equities will enter a bear market. Post this statement; Prices for the metal got an added boost to intraday highs.

Brexit - Brexit is another geopolitical factor whose uncertainty is supportive for haven metals, though, again, the reaction has been muted so far. In the U.K., solutions to the Brexit dilemma are still hard to come by, a background story that is keeping the dollar bid, but not offering much extra boost for precious metals.

Apart from the ongoing activities there are a series of events that await the precious metals markets-

And other monetary policy updates this week, the Bank of Japan will make an announcement late Wednesday and the Bank of England meets on Thursday. The dollar has enjoyed relative strength against the yen and the pound, in part because of the interest-rate differential between the U.S. and its major economic allies. the Bank of Japan will make an announcement late Wednesday monetary policy updates this week, and the Bank of England meets on Thursday China’s Central Economic Work Conference a speech by President Xi Jinping There have been signs if panic in the market resulting in higher volatility. Riskier assets have been under pressure due to geopolitical events.
Currently the highlight is the ongoing US china trade spat and the market needs to see some real signs that point towards resolving some of their differences.

The time for Gold should come soon

Gold prices gained on Friday and were at weekly record gains, while the dollar also traded higher although it is still hovering near two-month lows.

The dollar fell to a nine-week low against a basket of major currencies on Thursday as investors shifted their focus from a trade row between China and the United States to the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening plans.

Currency markets have become more settled since reacting strongly to new tariffs announced by Washington and Beijing on Tuesday.

The fall in dollar this week came as safe-haven demand for the U.S. currency ebbed amid continued relief that fresh U.S. and Chinese tariffs on reciprocal imports were less harsh than originally feared.

On Monday, the U.S. slapped tariffs of 10% on $200 billion in Chinese goods, before they rise to 25% by the end of 2018, rather than an outright 25%.
China retaliated by putting tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods. However, China will put a 10% tariff on some goods it had previously earmarked for a 20% levy.

Reports of the tariffs imposed by the U.S. and China on each other's goods being set at lower levels than expected were cited as headwind for the dollar prices, which is widely seen as safe-haven assets.
The dollar was also under pressure after a report said that the U.S. and Canada are unlikely to reach an agreement on NAFTA this week.

While trade disputes gained momentum, there was one more thing that has kept the markets on its toes. The next Fed meeting. Investors looked ahead to the next Federal Reserve policy decision to be announced on Sept. 26.

U.S. economic data has remained strong, and the dollar has tended to act as a safe-haven trade, gaining as tensions between Washington and Beijing escalate.

Markets currently expect the Fed to hike rates by a quarter of a point, while fed fund futures price in an additional increase at the end of the year at more than an 80% probability.

Looking ahead, markets would be paying close attention to next week’s Federal Reserve meeting. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to hike rates and discuss paths for future rate hikes. Higher rates dent demand for non-interest yielding gold and in turn boost the dollar in which it is priced.

The Federal Reserve is next week expected to raise benchmark borrowing costs and shed more light on its future rate path.

One more noteworthy thing that happened over the week was gold buying by Russian central bank.  As mentioned in my blogs earlier, the Russian central bank has been piling up its reserves and the latest figures released , stated that it has added a further 1 million ounces of gold (31.1 tonnes) to its reserves that month bringing the grand total to just over 2,000 tonnes as we suggested a month ago. It now has the holdings of Italy (2,451.8 tonnes) and France (2,436.0 tonnes in its sights to become the third largest national gold holder after the USA (8,133.5 tonnes) and Germany (3,369.9 tonnes) – all figures as reported to the IMF.

Russia and China are both believed to by buying gold as they feel the yellow metal will have an important role to play in the ongoing development of the global financial system. Russia and perhaps China too, are also believed to be buying gold, amongst other moves, to reduce their dollar-related forex holdings.

All these considerations suggest one thing- . Gold should shine not only due to the lower real interest rates and as an inflation-hedge, but also as a safe-haven asset hedging against the potential overshooting by the Fed.  We don’t expect any major financial crisis or that there won’t be a rate hike—what we think keeping these considerations in mind- the time for gold should come soon.

AN ACTION PACKED DECEMBER: RSBL

By Mr. Prithviraj Kothari, MD, RSBL

Gold prices appear to have found a base either side of the $1,250 per ounce, basis spot, with prices now getting some lift and silver prices are well placed to challenge recent resistance $17.78 per ounce

On Friday, 21st October,  San Francisco Fed President John Williams said at a mortgage conference that "it makes sense to get back to a pace of gradual rate increases, preferably sooner rather than later." His comments followed recent hawkish talk from central bank officials including New York Fed Chief William Dudley and Fed's vice chair Stanley Fischer, which prompted investors to price in an interest rate increase this year. 

The main concern currently is the conflicting scenario between Fed officials like Fischer and Dudley who have been signalling a rate hike before the end of the year, while the ECB has arguably signalled a likely extension of its asset purchases.

The ECB kept interest rates at historic lows last Thursday, and its President Mario Draghi kept the door open for more stimuli, effectively quashing any speculation that the bank was poised to taper its 1.7 trillion euro asset-buying programme.

Being only a few days before the U.S. presidential election, many analysts are not expecting the Federal Reserve to take any concrete steps.

However, expectations for a December move jump to 75%, the highest it has been all year as we see all the action happening in December.

As we head into what has seasonally been the best time of year for the sector, here are a few possible major data release that could influenced gold prices during coming months.

November 4th: The Non-farm Payrolls Report (NFP) for October will be released on this date. The gold sector usually sells off into this report and becomes very volatile after the release as trades are set beforehand based on the expected number of jobs created. This is a highly anticipated report as the results will be heavily factored into the Fed’s decision process of whether or not to raise interest rates in December. The market is factoring in a 70% chance of a quarter point raise on December 14th as of this post.

November 8th: The US election could very well be a major promoter as during the last Presidential Debate, Donald Trump made accusations of the election possibly being rigged against him. He has also stated if defeated, he will not commit to accepting the outcome, stating “I will tell you at the time”. This is a very dangerous statement and could easily trigger violence after the outcome. Also, if victorious, the decision could very well cause a “Brexit” type response in the gold sector as Trump is the anti-establishment candidate. 

December 2nd: The release of the final NFP report before the highly anticipated last Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of the year will be released . This could possibly be the deciding factor on whether or not Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen decides to raise rates this year.

December 14th: On this date the market will finally find out the answer to the question of, “will she, or won’t she”. If the Fed decides to raise rates at the conclusion of the December 13-14 FOMC meeting, the gold sector could initially sell off as it did last December. This could be a buying opportunity as rising rates have historically been bullish for gold as we saw back in the late 1970’s when former Fed chair Paul Volcker raised rates to over 20%. During this time gold had the largest bull market in history as it soared from $105 in September, 1976 to $850 in January, 1980. Also, in December of last year after 7 years of zero rates, the Fed finally decided to raise rates a quarter point. 

There are a lot of major U.S. reports coming and if the data is positive then there is no reason why the U.S. dollar can’t go higher and that could hurt gold. So as the world waits the month of December for its Christmas Celebration, the financial markets await the same month as a lot of action is bound to take place.

The primary purpose of this article by Mr. Prithviraj Kothari is to educate the masses of the current happenings in the Bullion world.

Previous blog:

"Gold Crashed But Lands Safely: RSBL"

http://riddisiddhibullionsltd.blogspot.in/2016/10/gold-crashes-but-lands-safely-rsbl.html

AN ACTION PACKED DECEMBER: RSBL

By Mr. Prithviraj Kothari, MD, RSBL

Gold prices appear to have found a base either side of the $1,250 per ounce, basis spot, with prices now getting some lift and silver prices are well placed to challenge recent resistance $17.78 per ounce

On Friday, 21st October,  San Francisco Fed President John Williams said at a mortgage conference that "it makes sense to get back to a pace of gradual rate increases, preferably sooner rather than later." His comments followed recent hawkish talk from central bank officials including New York Fed Chief William Dudley and Fed's vice chair Stanley Fischer, which prompted investors to price in an interest rate increase this year. 

The main concern currently is the conflicting scenario between Fed officials like Fischer and Dudley who have been signalling a rate hike before the end of the year, while the ECB has arguably signalled a likely extension of its asset purchases.

The ECB kept interest rates at historic lows last Thursday, and its President Mario Draghi kept the door open for more stimuli, effectively quashing any speculation that the bank was poised to taper its 1.7 trillion euro asset-buying programme.

Being only a few days before the U.S. presidential election, many analysts are not expecting the Federal Reserve to take any concrete steps.

However, expectations for a December move jump to 75%, the highest it has been all year as we see all the action happening in December.

As we head into what has seasonally been the best time of year for the sector, here are a few possible major data release that could influenced gold prices during coming months.

November 4th: The Non-farm Payrolls Report (NFP) for October will be released on this date. The gold sector usually sells off into this report and becomes very volatile after the release as trades are set beforehand based on the expected number of jobs created. This is a highly anticipated report as the results will be heavily factored into the Fed’s decision process of whether or not to raise interest rates in December. The market is factoring in a 70% chance of a quarter point raise on December 14th as of this post.

November 8th: The US election could very well be a major promoter as during the last Presidential Debate, Donald Trump made accusations of the election possibly being rigged against him. He has also stated if defeated, he will not commit to accepting the outcome, stating “I will tell you at the time”. This is a very dangerous statement and could easily trigger violence after the outcome. Also, if victorious, the decision could very well cause a “Brexit” type response in the gold sector as Trump is the anti-establishment candidate. 

December 2nd: The release of the final NFP report before the highly anticipated last Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of the year will be released . This could possibly be the deciding factor on whether or not Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen decides to raise rates this year.

December 14th: On this date the market will finally find out the answer to the question of, “will she, or won’t she”. If the Fed decides to raise rates at the conclusion of the December 13-14 FOMC meeting, the gold sector could initially sell off as it did last December. This could be a buying opportunity as rising rates have historically been bullish for gold as we saw back in the late 1970’s when former Fed chair Paul Volcker raised rates to over 20%. During this time gold had the largest bull market in history as it soared from $105 in September, 1976 to $850 in January, 1980. Also, in December of last year after 7 years of zero rates, the Fed finally decided to raise rates a quarter point. 

There are a lot of major U.S. reports coming and if the data is positive then there is no reason why the U.S. dollar can’t go higher and that could hurt gold. So as the world waits the month of December for its Christmas Celebration, the financial markets await the same month as a lot of action is bound to take place.

The primary purpose of this article by Mr. Prithviraj Kothari is to educate the masses of the current happenings in the Bullion world.

Previous blog:

"Gold Crashed But Lands Safely: RSBL"

http://riddisiddhibullionsltd.blogspot.in/2016/10/gold-crashes-but-lands-safely-rsbl.html

BULLION MARKET HIGHLIGHTS- DECEMBER 2015- AUGUST 2016: RSBL

 By Mr. Prithviraj Kothari, MD, RSBL

AS 2015 came to a close, most traders expected that 2016 would be a year subjugated by a series of Fed rate hikes.

 

That belief strengthened in late-December 2015 after the Fed delivered on its promise – and raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade.

 

In a widely telegraphed publication called the "Dots Plot", the Fed signalled that it would continue to normalize its monetary policy, and raise interest rates by a total of +1% through 2016 to a target of 1.375%, a "gradual" pace and in line with earlier forecasts.

Though gold was expected to be bearish on 2016, it showed upward prices movements and The World Gold Council attributed this rally to three principal factors:

• the widening landscape of negative interest rates in Japan and Europe;
• the devaluation of China's Yuan; and
• The realization that the Fed was bluffing on hiking the Fed funds rate, and wouldn't dare take any action that could knock the stock market lower ahead of the upcoming November elections in the US for Congress and the Presidency. 

While we are a few months away from the year end I would like to throw light on a few key highlights that influenced the bullion markets worldwide.

Fed Hike- on 4 January 2016, San Francisco Fed chief John Williams said he saw a steady campaign of interest rate rises. "There are still pretty significant headwinds" facing the US economy from weak overseas economies, the strong Dollar and housing related issues, Mr.Williams told reporters.

 

 

On 6 January, Fed deputy Stanley Fischer warned the markets could expect three to four increases in the Fed funds rate this year. Speaking on CNBC television Fischer warned:

"If asset prices across the economy – that is, taking all financial markets into account – are thought to be extremely high, raising the interest rate may be the suitable step."

Based on expectations of 4-Fed rate hikes to 1.375% by year's end, gold initially declined in the month of December to a six year low at $1054 per ounce. Most analysts expected the downfall to continue through 2016, but they were proved wrong.

 The price of gold suddenly surged 16% higher in the first quarter alone. Giving gold one of its strongest quarterly performance in nearly three decades.

SPDR- The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca:GLD), surged in its holdings to the most in six years, jumping to 983 tonnes, and global gold holdings in ETFs topped 2,000 metric tonnes for the first time since June 2013 following the Brexit fallout, when gold buying sparked even more gold buying.

 

BOE-  On June 30th, Bank of England chief Mark Carney said the economic risks from Brexit had started to crystallize, and he hinted at a resumption of QE, lifting gold to its biggest one-day surge in years after Britons shocked markets by voting to leave the European Union, driving investors toward safe-haven assets such as bullion.  Gold soared as much as 8 percent to its highest in more than two years in the week ending 28^th June, 2016 after the UK referendum results, sending investors rushing for protection. Gold prices surged to its highest level in more than two years, at $1,359 since March 17, 2014, sending shock waves across markets.

BOS- by June 2016, all of Switzerland's government debt, including its 30-year bonds, started trading at negative yields.

 

In all, a record US$11.7 trillion of global sovereign debt has dipped to sub-zero yield territory. This has only strengthened the rally in gold, and about $13-14 billion of money has made its way into gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as asset managers moved from fixed income into gold earlier this year.

 

Gold climbed to a two-year high at $1371 per ounce in July, convincing UBS Group to predict that gold is probably at the beginning of its next bull run

BOJ- gold's spectacular rally found a stiff roadblock at the $1370 per ounce area when Japanese government bonds suddenly began to fall sharply into their worst sell-off in 13 years. On August 2nd the Bank of Japan shocked the markets and rattled gold traders by keeping its bond purchases steady, defying expectations it would buy even more.

 

 

Gold traders became even more nervous after the BoJ said it would re-evaluate its Negative Interest Rate and QQE policies in September. Some investors see the policy review as a tacit admission by the central bank that after more than three years of massive money printing, the BoJ could be ready to start tapering the pace of the QQE liquidity injections.

 

   

Since the $10.4 trillion bond market in Tokyo is at the core of the negative interest rate world, if the BoJ begins to allow Japanese bond yields to climb by tapering its QE scheme, it could continue to rattle the price of gold – at least on a short-term basis.

BoJ policy makers ordered staff to make a "comprehensive assessment" on the impact of its easing program and negative interest-rate policy ahead of the next policy-setting meeting on 20-21 September. Some traders suspect the review is aimed specifically at assessing the effectiveness of negative rates, potentially giving policy makers scope to declare the exercise unsuccessful.

So for the month to come, BoJ will surely have something crucial for gold in store.

The primary purpose of this article by Mr. Prithviraj Kothari is to educate the masses of the current happenings in the Bullion world.

Previous blog:

"Higher Gold Prices For The Domestic Market: RSBL"

http://riddisiddhibullionsltd.blogspot.in/2016/08/higher-gold-prices-for-domestic-market.html