Gold

In spite of pressure from uncertainty in the U.S. elections coming up on Tuesday and plummeting crude oil prices, all three major stock indexes saw only small losses today.

Gold was up $2.40 per ounce, all of it coming on a sagging dollar.

Gold saw a nice little rise today, about half of which came on the back of dollar weakness. The question is: where is the dollar weakness coming from? Certainly, a bit is coming from the tightening of the U.S. election.

But Brexit’s stumble in the British court system has surely helped the pound and the euro against the U.S. dollar.

When is a non-rate hike a rate hike? Today, the Federal Reserve decided not to raise rates in the “obscure” November meeting but left December on the table. We have to say, however, that the key part of the news release following the close of today’s meeting scarcely felt robust.

Gold took advantage of a strong current of uncertainty flowing through markets today that was based on three things. Wrapped around the uncertainty was a weaker dollar.

Right now, foremost is Election Day, one week from tomorrow. Second is a looming, almost-guaranteed interest-rate rise. Third, is the inability of OPEC and other oil producers to reach an agreement limiting output.

A slightly stronger dollar, recovering from the shock of a new probe of Hillary Clinton’s email faux pas, only nicked gold slightly, which late in the day was buoyed in regular trading. Gold is up about $3.50 per ounce. Silver fared better, shrugging off dollar the small bit of strength and rising 14 cents per ounce or 0.75%.

The dollar slipped lower today and helped to send gold and silver higher during the trading session. Gold rose about 0.60% and silver about 0.95%.

The weaker dollar did not rescue oil. West Texas Intermediate fell 2.00%, losing a full dollar per barrel. That pushed WTI firmly under $49 pb.

We again faced a non-committal day in a non-committal period of investing and trading. Yes, gold rose in spite of a stronger dollar, but it was not plowing full-steam ahead but rather moving gingerly. Factoring in the stronger dollar today, gold was up a little more than $2.00 per ounce (Silver was essentially unchanged.)

A softer greenback was no match for regular trading in dollar-denominated commodities. Gold and silver both fell, although they are off their early lows. Oil is also down, although the fundamental thrust behind oil is complicated right now, which we touch on below. Gold was off about $7.00 and silver about 14 cents or 0.80%.

Two important Hindu festivals in India stirred demand for physical gold, which helped to spur higher prices in spot and futures. Since falling from its recent high on September 30th and a subsequent drop on October 5th, gold has been trading in a narrow and tightly defined range.

Gold is off about $1.70 per ounce today, virtually all of that loss coming from dollar strength. Silver gained via regular trading strength, even with the high-dollar headwinds.