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·         Gold prices eased on Friday as the dollar held gains ahead of the much-anticipated U.S. jobs data, while a growing number of Federal Reserve officials signaled the possibility of a sooner-than-expected policy tightening.

 

·         Spot gold fell 0.1% to $1,802.05 per ounce by 0104 GMT. U.S. gold futures eased 0.3% to $1,804.10.

 

·         The dollar index was up 0.1%, making gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.

 

·         Fed Governor Christopher Waller said it may be possible for the U.S. central bank to start withdrawing its accommodative monetary policy sooner than some expect given the progress in economic recovery and improving labor market.

 

·         Meanwhile, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said the delta variant of Covid-19 could throw a “wrinkle” into the labor market recovery and the timeline for a reduction in the Fed’s asset-purchase program.

 

·         Daily new Covid-19 cases have climbed to a six-month high in the United States, with more than 100,000 infections reported nationwide as the delta variant ravaged states with lower vaccination rates.

 

·         Investors are now focused on U.S. non-farm payrolls report, due later in the day, seen as key to Fed’s policy stance.

 

·         SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell to 1,027.61 tons on Thursday.

 

·         India’s gold imports in July more than doubled from a year earlier as demand improved after states lifted lockdown restrictions, a government source said.

 

·         Russia produced 79.05 tons of gold in the first four months of 2021, down from the 81.27 tons it produced in the same period in 2020, its finance ministry said on Thursday.

·         GOLD/SILVER TALKING POINTS:

 

- Gold prices fall below $1,800

- Silver prices stabilize above $25,00

- Non-Farm Payroll report to be key indicator for Fed tapering

 

GOLD PRICES REMAIN BELOW $1,800 AS NFP NEARS

Gold prices have continued to decline ahead of today’s Non-Farm Payroll report as the Fed continues to track unemployment.

 

GOLD TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

In the short-term, Gold prices would need to rise back above the key psychological level of $1,800 for a bullish breakout to be probable. This may be possible if inflation continues to climb and the Delta variant continues to spread concerns of further global lockdowns.

 

SILVER TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

For Silver, the zone of confluency currently remains between $24 and $26, with price action currently sitting comfortably just above the key psychological level of $25. If prices fall, the next level of support resides at the 61.8% retracement of the historical move at $24,16 while resistance remains at the $26 handle. As with Gold, the RSI is currently within range with price action below trendline resistance.

 

·     Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD points to deeper losses if death cross gets confirmed

·         Silver rose 0.1% to $25.15 per ounce and palladium was flat at $2,649.45.

 

·         Platinum hit an over seven-month low of $998 and was last down 0.6% at $999.49.

 

·         Biden offers 'safe haven' to Hong Kong residents in U.S. after China crackdown Michael MartinaTed HessonDavid Brunnstrom

President Joe Biden on Thursday offered temporary "safe haven" to Hong Kong residents in the United States, allowing what could be thousands of people to extend their stay in response to Beijing's crackdown on democracy in the Chinese territory.

·         Democrats should raise U.S. debt ceiling on their own -McConnell

Democrats should vote to raise the debt ceiling on their own, U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday, as the federal government moves closer to exhausting its borrowing capability.

“If they don’t need or want our input, they won’t get our help. They won’t get our help with the debt limit increase that ... these reckless (spending) plans will require,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.

 

 

·         Corn edges lower, set for 1% weekly gain

U.S. corn futures fell on Friday, though the grain was on course to record weekly gains of nearly 1% amid strong U.S. export demand and concerns about global supplies.

 

·         Supply problems cause fall in German industrial output

German industrial output unexpectedly fell again in June, data showed on Friday, suggesting recovery is slowing in Europe’s biggest economy, held back by supply bottlenecks for intermediate goods.

The Federal Statistics Office said industrial output dropped by 1.3% on the month after a downwardly revised decline of 0.8% in May. A Reuters poll had pointed to a rise of 0.5%.

 

·         3 charts show how far Covid delta variant has spread around the world

The delta variant, which was first detected in India last October, has been found in more than 130 countries globally, according to the World Health Organization.

The highly transmissible delta variant has caused a renewed surge in Covid-19 infections in countries from the U.K. and the U.S., to those in Africa and Asia.

It’s 50% more transmissible than the alpha strain.

Around 65 countries detected Covid cases caused by the delta variant in the four weeks to August 5, according to genetically sequenced coronavirus samples collected by GISAID.

The World Health Organization said the delta variant is the most transmissible variant of the coronavirus that first emerged in China in late 2019.

Vaccine effectiveness

The Covid delta variant has not spared countries with some of the highest vaccination rates globally.

Israel, where more than 62% of the population have been fully vaccinated, reported an increase in daily cases over the past month as delta became the dominant strain in the country.

As the delta variant spread in Israel, the health ministry found that the effectiveness of the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine dropped to just 39%, even though protection against severe illness remained high. The country has started to administer booster shots to people over age 60.

But a study in the U.K., where the delta variant is also fueling a rise in infections, found that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech or the vaccine by AstraZeneca-Oxford University were nearly as effective against delta as they were against the alpha variant.

The study published in the New England Journal of Medicine used real world data, and found that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were 88% effective against the delta variant. That’s compared to 93.7% against the alpha strain, it said. 

The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine was found to be 67% effective against delta, compared to 74.5% effectiveness against the alpha variant, according to the study.

 

But vaccination progress has remained uneven across the world. Many poorer developing countries are lagging behind due to their lack of access to Covid-19 vaccines.

 

Reference: CNBC, Reuters, DailyFX, Fxstree