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Gold prices fell on Friday as a rebound in U.S. bond yields and a surprise increase in September retail sales dented bullion’s safe-haven status.

 

·         Spot gold fell 1.5% to $1,768.38 per ounce by 01:43 p.m. ET (1743 GMT).

·         U.S. gold futures settled down 1.7% at $1,768.30.

 

·         Bullion remains on course for a small weekly gain as the dollar weakened.

 

·         Silver fell 0.9% to $23.32 an ounce, but was still headed for its biggest weekly gain in seven.

 

·         SPDR GOLD HOLDINGS:

HEAVY SELL NEARLY 10 TONNES ON OCTOBER!

SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 2.62 Tonnes to 980.1 tons on Wednesday from 982.72 tons on previous session.

Overall, the holdings of SPDR decline 9.93 tonnes in this month, but this year net sell 190.64 tonnes.

 

·         “Gold has everything going against it. Real rates are rising, equities are higher, so is bitcoin,” said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures in Chicago.

 

·         U.S. retail sales unexpectedly increased in September, boosting equities, and extending losses in risk-hedge gold.

 

·         Raising gold’s opportunity cost, U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury yields recovered from a more than one-week low hit on Thursday.

·         While most Fed policymakers agree the central bank could start reducing its monthly bond purchases as soon as next month, they are sharply divided over inflation and what they should do about it.

·         Investors are likely expecting only a moderate tightening from major central banks and “that shouldn’t cause too much of a problem for gold as investors hedge against elevated price levels,” said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst with ThinkMarkets.

 

·         Reduced stimulus and interest rate hikes push government bond yields up, raising the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.

 

·         In the physical markets, gold prices flipped to premiums in India, bolstered by festival demand.

 

·         Platinum steadied at $1,055.24, while palladium fell 2.4% to $2,078.27. Both metals are used by automakers in catalytic converters to clean car exhaust fumes.

 

·         Platinum group metals’ prices could still have a way to go before they are back on an even keel, StoneX analyst Rhona O’Connell said in a note.

 

·         “As the semiconductor chip delivery dislocation is showing little signs of waning, vehicle producers are cutting output left right and centre.”

 

·         Retail sales unexpectedly rise in September as consumers keep spending

Consumers spent at a much faster pace than expected in September, defying expectations for a pullback amid pervasive supply chain problems, the Census Bureau reported Friday.

 

Retail sales for the month increased by 0.7%, against the Dow Jones estimate for a decline of 0.2%. Excluding auto-related sales, the number rose 0.8%, better than the 0.5% forecast.

Compared with a year ago, sales were up 13.9% on the headline number and 15.6% excluding autos.

The spending accelerated as coronavirus cases continued to drop.

 

·         Bitcoin tops $60,000, a six-month high, on U.S. ETF expectations

 

·         The first bitcoin futures ETF in the U.S. is set to begin trading in the week ahead

The bitcoin futures ETF from ProShares will begin trading in the week ahead, an amended filing from the company indicated late Friday, marking a milestone moment in the development of the crypto industry in the United States.

 

·         Supply chains, inflation cloud vaccine, debt woes at IMF-World Bank meetings

Supply chain woes and growing inflation concerns pushed aside a widening gap in COVID-19 vaccinations and mounting debt problems for developing countries as the top concerns for global policymakers at International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings this week.

Relatively little new progress was made on increasing vaccine supplies to developing countries, although officials highlighted an increasing divergence between rich and poor countries as a growing financial and economic risk.

The focus on the normalization pains that wealthier economies are experiencing and a World Bank data-rigging scandal that had clouded the future of IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva proved a disappointment for anti-poverty groups.

 

·         U.S. banks see wealth management boom on borrowing, new assets

Big U.S. banks' wealth management businesses put in another stellar performance in the third quarter, buoyed by record levels of new money flowing into accounts and surging demand from clients to borrow against their investment portfolios.

Morgan Stanley Inc (MS.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Bank of America Corp(BAC.N)and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.(GS.N) each reported double-digit growth in wealth management loan balances and revenues this week.

 

·         Bank of England will have to act to contain inflation - Bailey

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey sent a fresh signal on Sunday that the British central bank is gearing up to raise interest rates for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus crisis as inflation risks mount.

 

·         China faces challenges from 'mismanagement' at certain firms, says PBOC head

China’s economy is “doing well”, but faces challenges such as default risks for certain firms due to “mismanagement”, the People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang said on Sunday.

Concerns have grown in recent weeks over the possible collapse of property developer China Evergrande Group, which has more than $300 billion in liabilities and has missed three rounds of interest payments on its dollar bonds.

As the company wrestles with its debt, worries about a possible spillover of credit risk from China’s property sector into the broader economy have intensified.

 

·         China risks making ‘big mistakes’ with widespread crackdown, says ex-IMF chief economist

China risks making “big mistakes” as it cracks down on large swathes of its economy from technology, to private tutoring and real estate, said a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund.

“I worry a lot about China because to some extent they’re attacking the basis of their growth so far,” Raghuram Rajan told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday. 

 

·         China could widen property tax trial, official media outlet reports

China could expand pilot testing of a property tax to Zhejiang province, a former government expert was quoted as saying in an official media outlet on Sunday, the latest sign that the country is moving closer to adopting the long-discussed levy.

 

·         China condemns U.S., Canada for sending warships through Taiwan Strait

The Chinese military on Sunday condemned the United States and Canada for each sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait last week, saying they were threatening peace and stability in the region.

China claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, and has mounted repeated air force missions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the past year, provoking anger in Taipei.

China sent around 150 aircraft into the zone over a four-day period beginning on Oct. 1 in a further heightening of tension between Beijing and Taipei that has sparked concern internationally.

 

·         COVID-19 UPDATES:

 

·         Merck COVID-19 pill sparks calls for access for lower income countries

 

·         Sydney eases more COVID-19 restrictions as vaccinations pass key milestone