Gold is trading above $1900/oz ahead of the European open

LONDON (Mar 1)  Gold is trading flat ahead of the European open but remains above the $1900/oz psychological level. Silver is just keeping its head above water trading at $24.47/oz. Looking at the rest of the commodities complex, copper (0.33%) and spot WTI (1.57%) are both in positive territory.

Risk sentiment overnight was positive after a decent close on Wall St. The Nikkei 225 (1.20%), ASX (0.67%), and Shanghai Composite (0.77%) all closed higher. Futures heading into to Europe are also positive. 

FX markets were pretty quiet overnight. The biggest move was AUD/USD which rose 0.37% following the RBA meeting. In the crypto space, Bitcoin trades 0.56% higher. 

News stories from overnight:

Frustrated Putin may order escalation of violence in Ukraine, according to U.S. officials.

Russia says the US declaration of 12 Russian diplomats as persona non grata hostile attack.

U.S.' Rubio on Ukraine, Russia is "going to have to destroy..some cities".

Satellite images show Russian military convoy north of Kyiv is longer than 17 miles.

The RBA stood pat on its policy as expected overnight. The Board decided to maintain the cash rate target at 10 basis points.

German - North Rhine Westphalia February CPI +5.3% vs +5.1% y/y prior.

China Caixin manufacturing PMI for February 50.4 (expected 49.1).

China official February manufacturing PMI 50.2 (expected 49.9 ).

Australia's weekly consumer confidence drops to 99.2.

Japanese Manufacturing PMI (Feb) 52.7 vs expected 52.9 (Previous 55.4).

Australian AIG Manufacturing Index (Feb) 53.2 (previous 48.4)

Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include final PMIs, German CPI, US ISM manufacturing, comments from Fed's Bostic, Mester, ECB's Lagarde, BoE's Saunders, and U.S. President Biden.

KITCO