Gold moves higher and bitcoin tanks leading into the European open
London (May 17) Gold has had a decent start to the week and maintained its break above the previous wave high of $1845.44/oz. The yellow metal now trades 0.62% higher at $1853.65/oz. Silver has also had a decent session and trades nearly 1% higher at $27.66/oz. Elsewhere in the commodities complex, copper has moved 0.12% higher and spot WTI 0.25% in the red.
In terms of the risk markets, it was pretty mixed overnight. The Nikkei 225 closed -0.92% lower, while the ASX (0.13%) and Shanghai Composite (0.81%) traded higher.
Over in FX, the antipodeans were the worst performers overnight. AUD/USD fell -0.19% while NZD/USD was the biggest loser down -0.29%.
One of the biggest stories of the weekend was the demise of bitcoin. The cryptocurrency has fallen 35% since hitting its new all-time high on 14th April and this time the drop has been blamed on Elon Musk's tweets.
In China, the statistics department comments on the April 'activity data' saying they are still wary on recovery.
Chinese Industrial Production 9.8% y/y (expected +10%) & Retail Sales 17.7% y/y (expected +25.0%) both readings are for April. Japanese PPI data for April hit +3.6% y/y (vs. expected 3.1%).
On the coronavirus front, Taiwan has reported 206 new daily cases of COVID-19 and tightened measures to try and stop the spread.
Workers at the Escondida and Spence mines have rejected a new contract offer raising the risk of another strike.
The Vale CEO said that iron ore is not on the cusp of a new supercycle and expects demand to level out in a couple of years.
Over in the US, the White House said on Friday at the President is open to new ways to pay for the infrastructure deal. They also said they are expecting the GOP counter proposal by Tuesday.
Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include NY Fed manufacturing data and comments from BoE's Haldane, Vlieghe, Tenreyro, Fed's Bostic, Kaplan and Clarida.
KitcoNews
