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Gold slips as Wall Street gains sour appeal

· Gold slipped 1% on Monday, with a dip in the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields offering little respite as U.S. equities gained, which dulled bullion’s appeal.

· Spot gold was down 0.3% at $1,738.93 per ounce. U.S. gold futures settled 0.2% down at $1,738.1.

· “Gold should be higher yet it’s not. That really speaks to a weak market if normal correlations (like a weaker dollar) are not holding up,” said David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets UK, adding gold could slip further if the dollar and yields advance.

“If (Turkish) citizens are concerned that the lira is weak, they’d look to buy U.S. dollars or gold, but this is where the fear comes - that capital controls will stop money coming into the country ...it could be tricky for people to get their hands on dollars, and in turn gold, in the next few weeks,” CMC’s Madden said.

· Gold fell as much as 1% during the session as investors flocked to the dollar and government bonds, spooked by Turkey’s decision to replace its central bank head with a critic of high interest rates.

· Gains on Wall Street also pressured gold.

· “Traders want to see gold above $1,750 and hold there before you start to see new money coming into this trade,” said Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist, RJO Futures, adding the U.S Federal Reserve’s low-interest rate policy could boost prices by year-end.

· Elsewhere, palladium dropped 1.1% to $2,606.24 per ounce and platinum shed 1.1% to $1,182.87. Russia’s Nornickel, a major palladium producer, shut a metallurgical processing facility in Russia’s border region with Norway and Finland to curb emissions.

· The issues at Nornickel could “push the palladium market into a wider deficit this year which, combined with strong demand from tightening emissions standards, could keep prices elevated,” Heraeus Precious Metals said in a note.

· Silver fell 2% to $25.72 an ounce.

· WHO says most regions of the globe are seeing an increase in Covid cases as variants spread

Most regions of the globe are seeing an increase in new Covid-19 cases as highly contagious variants continue to spread, the World Health Organization said Monday.

New cases worldwide increased by 8% over the last week, the fifth week in a row that the WHO has seen an increase in transmission, Maria Van Kerkhove, the agency’s technical lead for Covid-19, told reporters during a press briefing.

· CORONAVIRUS UPDATES:

COVID-19 infections are still rising in 81 countries.

Global Cases: 124.28 (+403,545)

Global Deaths: 2.73M (+7,011)

No. 1

U.S. Cases: 30.57M (+44,692)

U.S. Deaths: 555,944 (+635)

No.2

Brazil Cases: 12.05M (+53,386)

Brazil Deaths: 295,685 (+1,570)

No. 3

India Cases: 11.68M (+40,611)

India Deaths: 160,200(+197)

No.116

Thailand Cases: 27,876 (+73)

Thailand Deaths: 91 (+1)

· Global Vaccination

So far 139 countries have begun vaccinating people for the coronavirus and have administered at least 448,076,000 doses of the vaccine.

· Covid cases rise across more than half of the U.S. as country races to vaccinate

· New U.S. COVID-19 cases show weekly uptick for first time since January

New cases of COVID-19 in the United States rose 5% to more than 394,000 last week, the first increase after declining for nine straight weeks, according to a Reuters analysis of state, county and CDC data.

Thirty out of 50 states reported more new infections in the week ended March 21 compared with the previous seven days, up from 19 states in the prior week, according to the Reuters analysis.

Nationally, the weekly number of new cases had been on a downward trend since January, though health authorities have warned that infections could surge again if Americans relaxed social distancing restrictions too quickly. More infectious variants have also spread across the country.

· White House promises more J&J COVID-19 shots after launch stalls

· New York to open Covid vaccine eligibility to people 50 and older, Gov. Cuomo says

· South Korea's Moon receives AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine

· Existing home sales fell sharply in February, as supply dropped by the largest amount on record

Closed sales of existing homes in February dropped a larger-than-expected 6.6% compared with January, according to the National Association of Realtors.

That put them at a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 6.22 million units, which was 9.1% higher compared with February 2020.

Despite being on the cusp of the historically busy spring housing market, homeowners are not listing their properties for sale at the pace they normally would this time of year. The supply of homes for sale fell 29.5% year over year, the largest annual decline ever, to 1.03 million homes.

· Powell calls cryptocurrencies ‘not really useful stores of value’ and says Fed will move slowly

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Monday that cryptocurrencies remain an unstable store of value and the central bank is no hurry to introduce a competitor.

· U.S. economy looks to be strengthening but is ‘far from complete,’ Fed Chair Powell says

The U.S. economy is “much improved,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Monday, crediting Congress and the central bank both for providing “unprecedented” support, but at the same time warning that the recovery is still “far from complete.”

· U.S. economy is ‘on the brink’ of a complete recovery, says Richmond Fed’s Barkin

The U.S. economy is recovering from the Covid-19 recession, but some economic “scarring” may take a long time to heal, said Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Barkin.

Economic scarring refers to damage left behind by crises that will suppress growth prospects over the medium or long term.

· Fed's Bowman says small firm failures may increase, cites state virus restrictions

The faster-than-expected U.S. economic recovery may not prevent a massive loss of small businesses across the country, with federal lending and other programs perhaps only serving to postpone a reckoning, Federal Reserve Governor Michelle W. Bowman said on Monday.

· Inflation fears are creating ‘extraordinary’ buying opportunities in tech, Invesco says

· White House considers splitting $3 trillion recovery plan into two bills

The White House will consider various options to pass an estimated $3 trillion economic recovery proposal, including splitting it into two bills, NBC News reported Monday.

· White House officials to meet with energy industry execs ahead of climate, infrastructure plan, sources say

· Travel industry urges Biden to set health passport standards, plan to lift international travel bans

· Biden administration, criticized amid migrant surge, could lift press limits at border this week

· Biden administration signals India is an important partner in tackling China

The United States sees India as one of its most important partners in dealing with China’s growing ambitions in the Indian Ocean region and the Biden administration has demonstrated that early on, experts told CNBC on Monday.

· Biden administration sanctions two Chinese officials, citing human rights abuses against Uyghurs

· China’s monetary policy is shifting more quickly than it did after the 2008 financial crisis

China’s coronavirus stimulus program ended three months earlier than the 12-month-long one in 2009 following the financial crisis, according to proprietary analysis released by Allianz on Monday.

U.S. stimulus will likely increase demand for China’s exports by $60 billion, according to senior economist Francoise Huang, citing estimates from Allianz’s subsidiary Euler Hermes.

“The aim of China’s policy tightening is more about financial vulnerabilities and addressing the risk of overheating in the real estate and financial markets,” Huang said.

· Oil rises slightly despite demand fears amid European lockdowns

Oil steadied on Monday as hopes for a pick-up in demand later this year helped arrest last week’s broad sell-off, but prices stayed under pressure as new European coronavirus lockdowns made a quick recovery look less likely.

Brent crude was up 6 cents or 0.1% to $64.59 a barrel, while U.S. oil for delivery in April gained 13 cents to settle at $61.55 per barrel.

Reference: CNBC, Reuters, Worldometers