Gold price trades above $1900/oz leading into the European open

London (May 26)  Gold and silver are trading higher this morning leading into the European open. The yellow metal is 0.23% up trading above $1900/oz while silver has moved above $28/oz. In the rest of the commodities complex copper (0.32%) trading in the black but spot WTI (-0.02%) is trading just under flat.

Risk sentiment in the Asia Pac area is mixed. The Nikkei 225 (0.31%) and Shanghai Composite (0.35%) both traded higher while the ASX dropped -0.32%.

In the FX markets, the New Zealand dollar was the main mover overnight. This came after the RBNZ meeting (details to follow). The greenback is trading flat leading into the EU open. Bitcoin had a very good session and now trades above $40k at $40,475.

Looking at the news, the RBNZ left policy unchanged, as expected. RBNZ projections indicate the cash rate may rise in the second half of 2022. This is sooner than previously expected. The forecasts from the central bank suggested rates may increase in September 2022.

ECB's Panetta says he does not see signs that the inflation path is shifting upwards. He also added the risk of providing too little stimulus is high.

Fed Vice Chair Clarida agreed with the FOMC minutes that there will be a time at the upcoming Fed meetings where the Fed could discuss tapering.

BOJ's Suzuki says the economy recovering, slowly though. Suzuki also said he wants to see a little more moves in yields.

Australian coronavirus cases mount in the state of Victoria and this is causing new "snap lockdown" fears.

On the data front, Australian (Q1 2021) construction work done rose to +2.4% q/q (vs. expected +2.2%). The Westpac leading indicator for April fell short of the previous reading to hit +0.2% m/m (prior +0.45%, revised up from +0.38%).

Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include weekly DoE's and comments from Fed's Quarles and BoC's Lane. 

KitcoNews