Gold prices come out swinging as 2020 starts on volatile note

New York (Jan 10)  Here was to hoping that 2020 would start on a peaceful and calm note.

 But thus far, the new year and the new decade have been anything but. In a matter of days, threats of an “imminent attack and active plotting,” led President Trump to order an American strike in Baghdad, killing Iran’s top military leader, Qasem Soleimani. Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. targets and brought down a flight headed to Ukraine. And now the latest, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Friday that the U.S. would impose new sanctions on Iran’s metal exports and a handful of the country’s senior officials.

 And let’s not forget impeachment talks, China – US relations and the Federal Reserve’s next moves. There is no drought of news to follow and keep track of and no shortage of tensions and conflict leading investors to seek safe havens such as gold.

 The metal soared to seven year highs early in the week, gold’s roll then fizzled Wednesday, with the price dropping to $1,553 an ounce in afternoon trade – down 3.7% or $60 an ounce from the 7-year peak above $1,613 reached in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Wall Street participants in the weekly Kitco News gold survey are in fact conflicted on where the metal will head next week. The largest camp – by a small margin – said lower, but garnered less than 50% of the vote.

 In the Main Street survey, no voting bloc got 50% either, although this poll leaned bullish.

 And in case you were sleeping, did you see the fireworks in the rhodium market this week? The platinum group metal surged past the $7,000 mark, and some experts we spoke to said they wouldn’t be surprised if it retests its highs of $10,000 or higher. Could it be the bitcoin story of 2020?

 You can be assured we will be asking and addressing all your burning metal questions during our coverage of the upcoming Vancouver Resource Investment Conference next week. Once again, Kitco News will be moderating the Ultimate Gold Panel, a lively discussion on the future of the gold space. I will be moderating the panel featuring Peter Schiff, Rick Rule, Grant Williams and Raoul Pal. Follow Kitco News from January 19-20, 2020, as we interview the giants and market movers of the industry.
 So stay tuned next week for some great coverage!

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