Gold Price Volatility Continues as Investors Prepare for the Fed’s QE Tapering
The U.S. Comex gold future prices rebounded 0.33 percent this week to
$1,397.20 on Tuesday and reached almost $1,408 during Wednesday Asian
morning. The S&P 500 index is flat this week after falling 1.14
percent last week. The Euro Stoxx 50 index has fallen 0.50 percent this
week after rising 0.19 percent last week. The Dollar Index continues
to be under pressure, falling 0.73 percent this week after a drop of
0.39 percent last week. The U.S. 10-year government bond yield rose
about 2bp week-to-date to 2.147 percent on Tuesday, down 8bp from the
one-year high reached on 29 May.
Fed Tapering Debate Continues
Gold prices jumped on Monday in reaction to the unexpected contraction
in the U.S. May ISM manufacturing data to 49 from last month’s 50.7,
giving the market hopes that the Fed will continue its stimulus.
However, recently both the Fed President George and the Fed President
Fisher called for a dialing-back of the stimulus as the housing market
improves and the low interest rates encourage more risk-taking.
According to Bloomberg, the U.S. payrolls rose on average 196,000 per
month in the first four months of this year while the unemployment rate
dropped to 7.5 percent in April. A rise of above 200,000 on a sustained
basis will prompt the Fed to reduce the pace of stimulus. The
bullishness towards gold has dropped as the Fed has mentioned the
possibility of trimming the bond purchases in the next few meetings
depending on the economic outlook. Investors will keenly watch this
Friday’s non-farm payroll numbers.
Gold Wagers and Investors Demand
Barclay reported that the net redemptions of gold-backed ETPs reached
454 tonnes this year, 183 tonnes in April and 114 tonnes in May.
Barclays estimated that the cash-negative ETP holdings have fallen to 92
tonnes, and the redemptions will slow should gold prices go back above
$1500 an ounce or the equity markets correct. As of 28 May, the
speculative gross shorts futures positions in gold soared to a record
high of 115,686 contracts while the net position as a percentage of open
interest touched a record low since June 2005. Physical demand has
slowed in Asia as well especially in India as the country has widened
the curb on gold imports from banks to nominated agencies and trading
houses while seasonal demand has also turned down.
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05 Jun 2013 | Categories: Gold