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Gold slips as equities hit record on optimism over virus treatment

· Gold prices fell on Monday as optimism over a U.S. health regulator’s authorization of a COVID-19 treatment lifted Wall Street stocks to record highs.

· Spot gold fell 0.5% to $1,929.12 an ounce, having jumped 1% to $1,961.40. U.S. gold futures settled down 0.4% at $1,939.20.

· “Gold is just consolidating right now with stock indexes at record highs. It really needs a bigger catalyst, it needs additional fiscal stimulus, it needs inflation to pick up, in order to get really going,” said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures in Chicago.

· The S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record highs after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the emergency use of blood plasma in COVID-19 patients and on a report the Trump administration may fast-track a vaccine candidate.

Meanwhile, talks between top Democrats and Republicans on coronavirus aid legislation remained stalled.

· “While COVID-19 vaccine developments and improving economic data present near-term headwinds to gold, low and negative interest rates, a weaker U.S. dollar, and expectations for further stimulus keep the balance of risks to the upside,” said Standard Chartered analyst Suki Cooper in a note.

· Central banks worldwide have rolled out massive stimulus measures to alleviate the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but that has also increased the probability of rising inflation.

· Investors are awaiting U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s address to the bank’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Thursday for signs of how aggressively it will seek to handle the long-term recovery from the pandemic.

· Powell’s speech could include a vow as well to keep policy as accommodative as possible until inflation and employment are both stabilized.

· Among other metals, silver fell 0.9% to $26.43 an ounce, platinum was down 0.5% at $914.22 and palladium eased 1.2% to $2,155.90.

· US allows emergency use of blood plasma treatment for coronavirus patients

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given emergency authorisation to use plasma to treat Covid patients.

The technique uses antibody-rich blood plasma from people who've recovered from the disease and has already been applied to 70,000 people in the US - in trials or for the gravely ill.

The FDA says initial trials indicate it is safe, although more are needed to prove effectiveness.

Several experts have questioned the robustness of studies into its use.

· WHO says 172 countries now engaged with global vaccine plan

There are now 172 countries engaged with the World Health Organization-led COVAX plan that’s designed to ensure “a globally coordinated rollout” of Covid-19 vaccines that prove safe and effective, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

There are currently nine vaccines that are part of the COVAX facility, Tedros said, adding that nine more vaccines are under evaluation “to ensure access to the best possible range of products.” He said the coordinated distribution of a vaccine around the world is in the interest of all countries, including those that have already signed their own deals to acquire doses from vaccine developers.

“Initially, when there will be limited supply [of Covid-19 vaccines], it’s important to provide the vaccine to those at highest risk around the globe,” he said. “This doesn’t just pool risk. It also means that prices will be kept as low as possible.”

He added that the COVAX plan needs more funding and that investing in the facility is “the fastest way to end this pandemic.”

· In grim Republican convention opening, Trump warns of 'rigged election'

President Donald Trump adopted a grim tone in remarks to Republicans who formally backed his bid for a second term on Monday, warning without evidence that he could face a “rigged election” in November.

Trump repeated his assertion that voting by mail, a long-standing feature of American elections that is expected to be far more common during the coronavirus pandemic, could lead to an increase in fraud. Independent election security experts say voter fraud is quite rare in the United States.

Trump spoke on the first day of the sharply scaled-back Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, after he received enough votes to formally win the nomination to take on his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, in the Nov. 3 election.

As he has done repeatedly, Trump described states’ responses to infections of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, in starkly partisan terms, casting lockdowns and other steps recommended by public health officials as attempts to influence voting in November.

· Trump says he will add $1 billion to food for families program

President Donald Trump said on Monday his administration would provide an additional $1 billion to a program that provides food to American families dealing with the economic hardship from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Farmers to Families Food Box program is one of several government efforts to help struggling Americans. It aims to buy food from farmers who typically produced for restaurants but lost business because of coronavirus-related shutdowns, and deliver it to the millions of people who were thrown out of work or were otherwise hurt by the pandemic.

· Top U.S., Chinese official optimistic on Phase 1 trade deal after phone call: USTR

Top U.S. and Chinese officials, who spoke by phone on Monday, see progress on resolving issues over the Phase 1 trade deal reached in January and both sides are committed to the success of the agreement, the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office said.

Reference: BBC, Reuters, CNBC