A trading range of $2,500 to $2,700 for gold is \u2018possible\u2019: analyst<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gold prices have rallied to fresh record highs three times in less than three weeks, topping $2,500 an ounce at their peak, with the potential to rise even further as the precious metal\u2019s distinction as a \u201cprotective asset\u201d continues to take hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gold for December delivery climbed $7.80, or 0.3%, to settle at $2,480.80 an ounce on Comex Thursday. It traded as high as $2,506.60 during the session to touch a new record intraday high. Prices had previously climbed to intraday records on July 17 and July 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere can be no question that geopolitical uncertainties surrounding the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, coupled with continuing belligerence from China toward Taiwan and an increasingly ugly U.S. presidential election, still encourage investors to seek to increase exposure to protective assets such as gold,\u201d George Milling-Stanley, chief gold strategist at State Street Global Advisors, told MarketWatch Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The metal has found support against a backdrop of downbeat U.S. economic data, central bank buying, weakness in the dollar, and tensions in the Middle East,<\/a> analysts said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data released Thursday show U.S. manufacturing activity<\/a> saw a sharper-than-expected contraction, with the Institute for Supply Management\u2019s manufacturing index at 46.8%, down from 48.5% in June. It was down a fourth straight month to an eight-month low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits last week<\/a> also climbed by 14,000 to a nearly one-year high of 249,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The data \u201creinforces market hypothesis about multiple rate cuts this year,\u201d said Samer Hasn, market analyst at XS.com, in emailed commentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lower rates can weaken the dollar and make gold more competitive against interest-bearing investments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The economic figures, combined with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell\u2019s remarks after the central bank\u2019s policy meeting Wednesday, \u201chave made markets almost certain of a cut in September and one or two possible cuts in November or December,\u201d said Hasn, citing the CME FedWatch Tool.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Powell on Wednesday said <\/a>he didn\u2019t want to give specific forward guidance about the \u201cthe pace\u201d of future interest-rate cuts. The Fed will have three more meeting before the year is done \u2014 in September, November and December, and Powell said he could \u201cimagine a scenario in which there would be everywhere from zero cuts to several cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The market had been looking for reassurance from the Fed chairman that the central bank would start cutting rates at its September meeting,, said Milling-Stanley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPowell, as usual, made no promises, but markets interpreted the tone of the official statement and Powell\u2019s comments to the press as indicating that that a rate cut in September remains on the table,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By far, interest-rate trends have been the bigger influence on gold than events in the Middle East, said Tim Hayes, global investment strategist at Ned Davis Research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 10-year Treasury yield BX:TMUBMUSD10Y<\/a> and Barclays Global Aggregate Bond yield have reached their lowest levels since March, which is \u201cbullish for gold given its inverse correlation with yields,\u201d said Hayes. He explained that since gold doesn\u2019t pay interest, it\u2019s \u201ccompetitive advantage\u201d with bonds improves when yields decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Expectations for a Fed rate cut are helping to support gold prices, and globally, central banks have started cutting interest rates, he said. The Bank of England on Thursday cut<\/a> its main interest rate by 25 basis points to 5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gold also benefits from weakness in the U.S. dollar, which has been under downward pressure, and central bank buying remains a positive long-term influence. The ICE U.S. Dollar index edged up by 0.2% to 104.35 in Thursday dealings, but trades 1.4% lower quarter to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Against that backdrop, gold has climbed, with futures prices on Thursday marking a new all-time settlement high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the economic and political environment becomes \u2018more favorable for gold\u2026a trading range for the metal of between $2,500 and $2,700 could be possible.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 George Milling-Stanley, State Street Global Advisors<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The Gold Midyear Outlook for State Street\u2019s Gold strategy team indicated that gold could trade between $2,200 and $2,500 for the remainder of the year \u201cif there are no significant changes in the economic and political backdrop,\u201d said Milling-Stanley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prices for the metal climbed above that high mark Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the economic and political environment becomes \u201cmore favorable for gold \u2014 for example, with growing weakness in the dollar because of rate cuts \u2014 a trading range for the metal of between $2,500 and $2,700 could be possible,\u201d said Milling-Stanley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more at the original source here<\/a>:<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 4 Aug 2024 By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch.com: A trading range of $2,500 to $2,700 for gold is \u2018possible\u2019: analyst Gold prices have rallied to fresh record highs three times in less than three weeks, topping $2,500 an ounce at their peak, with the potential to rise even further as the precious metal\u2019s distinction as… Read More »Gold keeps hitting fresh record highs. Here\u2019s what could lift it closer to $3,000<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-gold"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4399,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4398\/revisions\/4399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sellgoldmalaysia.com\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Best](\"https:\/\/mybulliontrade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/economy.jpg\")
Downbeat economic data<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Interest-rate outlook<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
$2,500 and beyond<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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