Gold and Silver prices trade higher leading into the EU open
London (May 3) Gold and silver have moved higher on the first Asian trading session of the week. The yellow metal trades just over half a percent higher at $1778/oz and silver has risen 0.60% to trade at $26/oz once again. In the crypto space, BTC/USD moved over 2.4% higher to trade at $58k again.
The indices in the Asia-Pac area have been mixed overnight. The Nikkei 225 dropped -0.83% but the ASX in Australia (0.04%) traded just above flat. Elsewhere, the Hang Seng (-1.62%) and Kospi (-0.66%) also struggled.
In FX markets the dollar index trades slightly higher but the biggest move came from USD/JPY which moved 0.24% in the black. This was closely followed by USD/CAD which rose 0.25%. In the rest of the commodities complex copper (-0.33%) and spot WTI (-0.63%) also fell overnight.
In terms of news, ECB's de Guindos stated "We may start thinking to phase out stimulus if vaccinations, economy speeds up". There has been suggestions that this would take place when 70% of the population has been vaccinated and GDP picks up.
China's Q1 gold consumption has increased by 93.9% y/y. (There will be a more extensive story on this to come).
There has been some press and Twitter reports that a Silicon Valley venture capital firm is considering a $1 bn crypto fund.
On the data front, Australian ANZ job advertisements survey for April: +4.7% m/m (sa) (prior +7.4%). South Korean manufacturing PMI April hit 54.6 (prior 55.3) a 7th consecutive monthly expansion. Australian Markit Manufacturing PMI, April final increased to 59.7 (prior 56.8), and the nation's AiG Manufacturing PMI reading for April was even better hitting (final) 61.7 (prior 59.9).
NZ PM Jacinda Ardern says the differences with China are becoming harder to reconcile. This comes as U.S. Secretary of State Blinken said China is acting more repressively at home and more aggressively abroad in recent years.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says she does not believe that Joe Biden's spending will fuel inflation.
The U.K. is likely to let non-essential travel resume from 17th May according to press reports.
Looking ahead to the rest of the session it may be a quiet one as many people are on bank holidays. We still get German manufacturing PMI, U.S. ISM manufacturing PMI and comments from ECB's Enria, Fed's Williams and Fed Chair Powell.
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