The entire precious metals complex traded higher today, with platinum scoring the largest percentage gain of 1.61%. Platinum futures gained a respectable $19.20 and are currently fixed at $1210.50. Gold bounced off an eight-month low to gain +0.78%, with the most active April 2021 Comex contract currently fixed at $1736.40, which is a net gain of $13.40 on the day.

Although gold futures are trading off of today’s intraday lows, the most active April 2021 Comex contract lost approximately $6.80 (-0.9%) in trading and is currently fixed at $1722. However, at the same time, the three other precious metals that trade on the futures exchange gained value. Silver futures gained $0.19 (+0.70%) in trading today and are currently fixed at $26.625.

Since the beginning of time, rhythmic regularity has been the law of creation. Gradually man has acquired knowledge and power from studying the various manifestations of this law. The effects of the law are discernible in the behavior of tides, the heavenly bodies, cyclones, day and night, even life and death. This rhythmic regularity is called a cycle. — Ralph Nelson Elliott

In what was a frenzy of selling pressure, market participants bid U.S. equities, and the entire precious metals complex substantially lower in trading today. The hardest-hit stock indexes today were undoubtedly the NASDAQ composite and the Russell 2000. The NASDAQ composite experienced its worst trading day in four months, giving up
– 3.45%, or 460 points, to close at 13,138.5143.

Gold futures traded to an intraday low of $1782.20 before recovering, closing just above $1800. As of 4:44 PM EST, the most active April 2021 contract of gold futures is currently fixed at $1802.90, which is a net decline of  $3.00  on the day. In terms of a percentage drawdown today, it was truly fractional, with gold giving up 0.015%.

The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, today began his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee in regards to the Fed’s current monetary policy. In his first day of testimony, he underscored both the positive improvements in the economy, as well as the assumption that the economy in the United States continues to be negatively impacted by the pandemic.

With the exception of platinum, the rest of the precious metals complex traded on the futures markets all exhibited very respectable gains. Leading the forefront was silver futures, which gained 3.6% in trading today. This was followed closely by the electronically traded fund SLV, which outperformed futures as they gained 3.90%.

It's relatively easy to see when we look at recent activity in the precious metals complex that at least recently, gold has been lagging behind gains seen in the other three precious metals.

Of all of the precious metals traded on the futures markets (gold, silver, platinum and palladium), it seems that platinum is in a group by itself as it has consistently risen for the last three consecutive weeks. In fact, three weeks ago, platinum futures open just below $1100 per ounce at $1096.

There were multiple factors which influenced pricing taking the precious yellow metal sharply lower. Concurrently the industrial component of silver allowed it to actually gain respectably on the day.