Price pressure on gold, silver amid better risk appetite
NEW YORK (December 2) Gold and silver prices are lower in early U.S. trading Monday, on profit-taking from the shorter-term futures traders and amid improved trader/investor risk appetite in the general marketplace. Gold hit a six-week high on Monday, while silver hit a record high. February gold was last down $30.50 at $4,244.40. March silver prices were down $0.907 at $58.235.
Global stock markets were mixed overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed to higher openings when the New York day session begins. Risk appetite is better today, following good demand for Japanese bonds that Japan’s government held today. On Monday the global bond markets were a bit jittery because of political/financial/economic worries regarding Japan.
In other news, U.S. envoy to meet Putin in Moscow. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a potential peace plan to end Russia’s war with Ukraine. Putin claimed Russian troops had taken the city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, but Ukraine's military staff spokesman denied the claim. Witkoff is due to hold talks with Putin on the latest proposals for ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine, following negotiations between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Florida this past weekend.
OECD: world economy doing better than expected. The Paris-based think tank Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said the global economy is weathering U.S. and other countries’ trade tariffs better than expected due to strong investment in artificial intelligence and supportive fiscal and monetary policies. The OECD raised its U.S. and European area economic growth forecasts for this year and next but still predicts global growth will slow to 2.9% in 2026 from 3.2% in 2025. The OECD cautioned that the outlook is “fragile” and its projections are “subject to substantial risks” due to concerns about swift changes in trade measures and the risk of abrupt price corrections in the tech sector.
The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index up a bit. Crude oil prices are slightly down and trading around $59.25 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note is presently 4.08%.
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