Gold and silver prices trade flat leading into the European open

Frankfurt (May 21)  Gold and silver are trading flat leading into the European open on Friday. The yellow metal is trading at $1876/zo while silver it at $27.70/oz. Elsewhere in the commodities markets, copper is -0.24% in the red, and spot WTI has moved 0.34% higher.

Risk sentiment overnight has been mixed as the Nikkei 225 (0.78%) and ASX (0.15%) moved higher but the Shanghai Composite dropped -0.58%. Futures in Europe are pointing to a marginally positive open. 

In the FX markets, most of the majors traded within their ranges. The biggest mover was AUD/USD which fell 0.24% but the dollar index is flat. BTC/USD has dipped again slightly to fall below $40K once again. 

Looking at some of the news stories overnight, in the first of many manufacturing PMI's Australia's hit 59.9 vs the previous reading of 59.7. Japan's reading fell below its previous to print at 52.5 (prev 53.6).

New Zealand's Finance Minister said he would like to see a return to a fiscally viable position.

A U.S. SEC official says that the public would benefit from more investor protection on crypto exchanges.

U.K. retail sales rose +9.2% vs +4.5% m/m expected for the month of April.

Isreal and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire on the Gaza strip that is said to start today. 

The Biden administration could be looking to impose a global tax on multinational corporations of at least 15%.

Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include manufacturing PMI data from the major nations, Canadian core retail sales, U.S. existing home sales, EU consumer confidence. We could also hear from ECB's Lagarde, de Guindos, Fed's Bostic, Barkin and Daly.

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