Gold price near steady; bulls need a fresh spark

New York (Oct 18) Gold prices are not far from unchanged in early U.S. trading Monday. Bulls are wobbly again and need some new fundamental information to jumpstart a rally. December gold futures were last up $0.60 at $1,768.30. December Comex silver was last up $0.031 at $23.38 an ounce.

Global stock markets were mostly lower in overnight trading. The U.S. stock indexes are pointed to lower openings when the New York day session begins. Risk aversion is keener to start the trading week, amid rising energy costs and increasing worries about stagflation. Nymex crude oil prices hit a seven-year high of $83.87 a barrel overnight. China’s third-quarter gross domestic product growth slowed to 4.9%, year-on-year, lower than expectations and the slowest pace of growth in a year, hurt by power shortages and supply chain bottlenecks. China’s GDP rose 7.9% in the second quarter. Meantime, the governor of the Bank of England said Sunday the BOE will have to act to curb inflationary pressure. He said inflation in the U.K. had already risen and would rise further, to warrant action.

The other key outside market today sees the U.S. dollar index higher. Meantime, the 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield is presently fetching 1.609%.    

U.S. economic data due for release Monday includes industrial production and capacity utilization, Treasury international capital data and the NAHB housing market index.

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