Gold hits highest since September 2011, silver at 4-year peak
· Gold prices jumped to their highest since September 2011 on Monday, and silver hit a near four-year peak as a spike in COVID-19 infections and hopes for increased stimulus measures supported safe-haven demand.
· Spot gold rose 0.4% to $1,815.34 per ounce, having touched a high of $1,820.06 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures settled up 0.4% to $1,817.40 per ounce.
· Signs that the European Union countries are willing to compromise on a 1.8 trillion-euro ($2 trillion) coronavirus stimulus plan, should also keep bullion well supported.
· Cases of the coronavirus, which has infected more than 14 million people globally, continue to soar in the United States, with experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warning that cases and deaths could rise this autumn and winter.
· Elsewhere, silver rose 2.4% to $19.76 per ounce, having hit a peak since September 2016 at $19.81 on increasing safe-haven flows.
· Recovering industrial demand alongside supply concerns in Latin America amid rising coronavirus cases that threaten its supply chains have also helped drive silver prices higher, Societe Generale said in a note.
· Palladium gained 2% to $2,061.42 per ounce, while platinum rose 0.7% to $843.52 per ounce.
· ‘U.S. is pressing the accelerator to trash’ relations, China says
As Trump administration officials take fresh aim at China for a list of grievances ranging from intellectual property theft to the coronavirus pandemic, Beijing fired back by saying the U.S. is “possessed by such evil” and is, therefore, to blame for deteriorating relations.
· Florida COVID-cases soar again, California sees surge stabilize19
The mayor of Chicago shut down indoor service at bars on Monday and Florida reported more than ,new cases of COVID-for the sixth day in a row, as the coronavirus pandemic raged across the United States.10000 19
The grim news was offset by an apparent stabilization of the outbreak in California and the fewest hospitalizations in four months in New York state, allowing New York City to enter a new phase of reopening.
· Wave of promising study results raise hopes for coronavirus vaccines
Early data from trials of three potential COVID-vaccines released on Monday, including a closely-watched candidate from Oxford University, increased confidence that a vaccine can train the immune system to recognize and fight the novel coronavirus without serious side effects.19
The vaccine being developed by British drugmaker AstraZeneca along with the Oxford University, induced an immune response in all study participants who received two doses without any worrisome side effects, data showed, keeping alive the hope it could be in use by the end of the year.
Some other promising news came out of the U.K. Monday as British pharmaceutical company Synairgen claimed that its new respiratory coronavirus treatment has reduced the number of hospitalized Covid-patients needing intensive care in a clinical trial.19
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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