Gold futures slumped sharply last week in what the biggest percentage loss in more than two and a half years because of a belief that a settlement is in sight for the Trump-China trade war despite more conflicting news about a trade deal between China and the US.
Suggestions from China that a deal was in the process of being settled saw the metal plunge on Thursday as investors moved out of safe-haven assets. But Friday saw more (and typical) confusion from the Trump administration and Trump himself said no deal had been reached – so prices bounced around, again.
Wall Street and Treasury yields climbed for the week, and a stronger US dollar hit demand for dollar-denominated gold (but not for oil).
Comex December gold fell $US3.50, or 0.2%, to settle at $US1,462.90 an ounce, after dropping 1.8% on Thursday.
That saw the lowest settlement for a most-active contract since August 2, according to FactSet data.
Comex December silver futures lost 8 cents, or 0.5%, to $US16.95 adding to its 3.3% slide the day before. Silver settled at its lowest level since mid-August.
For the week, gold lost 3.2%—the biggest since the week ended May 5, 2017, when the most-active contract fell 3.26%. Silver fell about 6.8% for the week, the worst fall since the week ended July 7, 2017, according to data from FactSet.
Also on Comex Friday, December copper fell 1.7% to $US2.682 a pound, but settling 1.1% higher for the week, despite the stronger dollar.
Oil prices ended higher on Friday, after earlier falling more than 1% following comments from President Trump that he has not agreed to roll back tariffs on imports from China.
Global marker, Brent crude futures rose 22 cents to settle at $US62.51 a barrel after the initial hiccup while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude ended 9 cents higher to settle at $US57.24 a barrel.
Brent posted a weekly rise of 1.3%, while WTI was up 1.9% despite the stronger dollar.
Prices rebounded mid-session after Brent reached a session low of $US60.66 a barrel and WTI sank to $US55.76 a barrel on Trump’s comments.
US crude oil stocks rose sharply by 7.9 million barrels to 446.8 million last week as refineries cut output and exports dropped, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Daily production remained around 12.6 million BPD.
And the number of rigs used to look for all again fell last week, according to data from services group, Baker Hughes.
Drillers cut seven rigs in the week to November 8, bringing the total count down to 684, the lowest since April 2017.
