Gold and silver weaker amid bearish outside markets

New York (Nov 29)  Gold and silver prices are lower in midday U.S. trading Monday. The metals are being pressured by negative outside forces on this day, including a stronger U.S. dollar index, a bounce in the U.S. stock market and rising bond yields. February gold was last down $3.40 at $1,784.70 and March Comex silver was last down $0.31 at $22.82 an ounce.

The marketplace is less spooked about the new Omicron strain of Covid than it was Friday, but by no means can trader and investors attitudes be termed upbeat to start the trading week. Reports now say the Omicron strain may be more mild than the previous ones, and that vaccines are likely to work on the new variant but may need tweaking. Still, right now there are more questions than answers on the matter and that's likely to keep market participants on edge for at least the near term. That's still bullish for safe-haven assets like gold, the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasuries. Some countries have closed their borders to foreigners, even though the World Health Organization says that's premature. More than a few market watchers say the Omicron scare is overblown and markets are likely to settle down quickly.

Global stock markets were mixed in overnight trading, with Asian shares mostly lower and European shares mostly higher. The U.S. stock indexes are higher at midday after suffering sharp losses Friday.

The general sell off in the raw commodity futures markets Friday, led by crude oil, has some wondering if the inflation scare has peaked. It's really too early to suggest such. How the commodity markets trade this week will provide better clues. Good rebounds in the commodity markets this week, including crude oil, would point to inflation remaining elevated and even problematic.

The key "outside markets" see Nymex crude oil prices sharply higher and trading around $71.00 a barrel, on a rebound after Friday plunging to a nearly two-month low of $67.40. The U.S. dollar index is up. Meantime, The yield on the U.S. Treasury 10-year note is fetching 1.529%.

Technically, February gold futures bulls still have the slight overall near-term technical advantage but have faded recently and need to show fresh power soon to keep alive a two-month-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. Bulls' next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $1,850.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at the November low of $1,761.00. First resistance is seen at $1,800.00 and then at $1,810.00. First support is seen at last week's low of $1,780.20 and then at $1,775.00.

At today's closing spot gold closed down $8 at $1785, while spot silver slipped nearly -2% to $22.92.

KitcoNews