Price pressure on gold, silver; bulls need fresh fodder
NEW YORK (February 17) Gold and silver prices are solidly lower in early U.S. trading Monday, with weak long liquidation from the shorter-term futures traders featured. There’s an old trading adage that says a bull market needs to be fed fresh fundamental fodder often, to continue its bull run. Presently, the gold and silver market bulls have not seen a fresh, bullish fundamental spark for a while. April gold was last down $85.60 at $4,960.00. March silver prices were down $3.13 at $74.83.
U.S., Iran hold talks in Geneva. Iran and the U.S. met for a second round of nuclear talks in Geneva, Switzerland today as they seek to avoid renewed conflict in the Middle East following last year’s U.S. attacks on the Islamic Republic. The talks are being mediated by Oman. “Iranian officials have expressed willingness to discuss their nuclear-enrichment activities but have tied any concessions to the potential easing of American sanctions. Meanwhile, both sides have increased their military presence in the region. The U.S. is deploying a second aircraft carrier to the region amid warnings of a possible strike on Iran if talks — which could drag on for weeks — fail to produce a compromise, Bloomberg reported. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps held drills around the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Monday that were focused on delivering a “decisive” response to security threats. The U.S. team is led by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Trump said on Monday that Iran wants to make a deal and that he’ll be indirectly involved in the discussions.
U.S., China officials talk in Munich, ahead of Trump-Xi summit meeting. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Munich late last week, as the two countries prepare for a planned visit by President Trump to Beijing in April. Wang called for 2026 to be a year in which China and the U.S. move toward mutual respect, and the two sides agreed to strengthen dialogue and cooperation in various fields. The meeting was seen as a way to keep momentum moving forward ahead of the U.S.-China summit in April.
The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index higher, with crude oil prices higher and trading around $64.00 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note is presently around 4.03 percent and at a 2.5-month low.
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