MTS Help Center

Gold prices were subdued on Tuesday as rising U.S. Treasury yields countered support from a weaker dollar and investors awaited U.S. consumer price data to gauge inflation.

 

·         Spot gold fell by as much as 1% to a session low of$1,816.90 per ounce before paring losses and was down 0.1% at $1,834.19 per ounce by 1:43 p.m. EDT (1743 GMT).

 

·         U.S. gold futures settled down 0.1% at $1,836.1.

 

·         Elsewhere, palladium fell 1.1% to $2,928.00 per ounce, while platinum was down 0.6% at $1,240. Silver gained 0.8% to $27.54 per ounce.

 

·         “If yields continue to rise, this may drag the precious metal lower despite the risk-off mood,” said Lukman Otunuga, senior research analyst at FXTM.

“Bulls remain in control as long as $1,800 proves to be reliable support ... A solid weekly close above $1,840 could signal a move higher towards $1,855 and $1,870, respectively,” FXTM’s Otunuga said.

 

·         U.S. job openings soar to record 8.1 million, but businesses can’t find enough workers

 

·         All eyes are on this inflation number, which could have the biggest gain in nearly a decade

Consumer inflation data for April is expected to show the biggest year-over-year gain in nearly a decade.

The anticipated 3.6% jump in the headline consumer price index in April would be the largest since Sept. 2011. CPI is expected to be up 0.2% month-over-month, when the data is released Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET, according to Dow Jones. That compares to March’s 0.6% increase, or gain of 2.6% year over year.

On a core basis — which excludes food and energy — the CPI is expected to have increased by 0.3% or 2.3% year over year.

 

·         Investors awaited Wednesday's April consumer price index data to see if the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin to alter its stance on inflation.

The Fed has repeatedly maintained that any inflation would be transitory in nature. On Tuesday, Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester said she expected inflation to end the year above 2% but to come down next year as supply constraints ebb.

 

·         Fed officials would like to see higher inflation, more wage growth and several months of strong employment gains before they consider adjusting monetary policy, Chicago Fed Bank President Charles Evans said on Monday.

 

·         Fed's Harker sees no reason to withdraw monetary policy support yet

Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said there are sill factors slowing down the recovery in the labor market, and believes the central bank should continue to provide support to the economy.

Fed's Harker says 3% inflation is the maximum he would like to see

 

·         Brainard: Pulling back support due to high stocks may hurt efforts to boost jobs

Any move by the U.S. Federal Reserve to limit its support for the economy because of surging asset prices would damage the conditions the central bank is helping create to spur job growth and the help millions still unemployed due to the pandemic find work, Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Tuesday.

 

·         Fed’s Bostic Says Economic Inclusion is Key Mission for the Fed

Creating a more inclusive economy that provides better jobs for low income workers and minorities is part of the U.S. central bank’s key mission of pursuing maximum employment, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said.

“Economic inclusion, I firmly believe, is among the defining economic issues of our time,” Bostic said Thursday in prepared remarks to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s research conference. “We have a chance to make fundamental change and progress, but progress will be hard won.”

 

·         Fed's Bostic: It's appropriate for Fed policy to stay accommodative

 

·         Fed’s Bullard says ‘it’s too early to talk taper’ while the pandemic continues

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard acknowledged the progress the economy has made but said Tuesday it’s still not time to ease back the throttle on policy.

 

·         Fed's Daly says we are in 'transition,' no taper talk yet

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly on Monday said she remains encouraged about the economic trajectory despite a report Friday showing fewer-than-expected job gains last month, adding the economy is a state of “transition” and still needs plenty of monetary policy support.

“We are a long way from normalization,” Daly told Yahoo Finance. Asked if the Fed should start thinking about reducing its $120 billion a month in bond purchases, she said, “not yet.”

 

·         U.S. Fed should require banks to hold more cash for climate risks -think tank

The U.S. Federal Reserve should force banks to hold more cash to guard against potential losses due to climate change and possible steps to fight it, one of Washington’s top liberal think tanks said on Tuesday.

 

·         As the U.S. economy restarts from the pandemic, parts of it are severely broken

- The country faces major shortages in everything from labor to semiconductors, lumber and packaging materials.

- The scarcity is not only preventing the economy from reaching its full potential, but also raising fears of higher inflation as companies are forced to hike prices.

- “These shortages, both labor and non-labor, will affect the speed under which the economy recovers,” Barclays head of economics research Michael Gapen said.

 

·         Oil prices rise on nagging fears of fuel shortages

Oil prices settled higher on Tuesday, as lingering fears of gasoline shortages due to an outage at the largest U.S. fuel pipeline system after a cyber attack brought futures back from an early drop of more than 1%.

Brent crude futures rose 23 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $68.55 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 36 cents, or 0.6%, to end the session at $65.28.

Benchmark gasoline futures prices ended the session 0.3% higher at $2.1399 a gallon.

 

·         CORONAVIRUS UPDATES:

 

·         EU confident of COVID-19 travel certificate for summer

·         35 killed in Gaza, 3 in Israel, as violence escalates