By Ranjeetha Pakiam and Elena MaznevaBloomberg  Dec. 31, 2019 3:46 PM

Gold climbed to a three-month high to clinch its best annual performance since 2010, as a weaker dollar helped cap a year marked by global economic jitters and trade frictions.

Bullion gained 19% this year as central banks globally embraced looser monetary policy to boost growth. Brexit, unrest in regions from Chile to Hong Kong and buying sprees from key central banks and exchange-traded funds have also helped support prices.

Spot gold climbed as much as 0.7% to $1,525.38 an ounce on Tuesday, the highest since Sept. 25. It traded at $1,520.13 at 1:40 p.m. in New York. Gold futures for February delivery rose 0.3% to settle at $1,523.10 on the Comex.

The metal managed to hold on to gains even after President Trump said he will sign the first phase of a trade deal with China on Jan. 15, easing uncertainty that has fueled haven demand for bullion.

“It is not really a surprise” especially after headlines yesterday that China’s Vice-Premier Liu He is coming to Washington to sign the so-called phase-one trade deal, said Tai Wong, the head of metals derivatives trading at BMO Capital Markets.

Some analysts doubt that gold’s strength will stick next year. JPMorgan Asset Management cautioned that bullion may not offer sound portfolio protection.

“There are very few certain environments in which gold does well, and it’s not necessarily the case that 2020 won’t be any of those,” Hannah Anderson, a global market strategist at JPMorgan, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “In the next downturn, I do believe that bonds still could be defensive assets.”

read more via: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-12-31/gold-best-year-since-2010

By Brian J. O’Connor

• Oct. 11, 2019

Like eager prospectors in a B western, many investors believe there’s gold in them hills — and that’s where they’re heading.

Gold has often been a haven for investors, and there are plenty of reasons to seek safety now. They include the trade war with China, weakness in Europe, central bankers looking at subzero interest rates, turmoil in the Middle East, the looming Brexit and uncertainty heading into the 2020 United States elections, and fears of a possible recession.

By mid-September, investors had poured nearly $8 billion this year into exchange-traded funds that hold gold.

This growing gold rush has pushed the price of the precious metal up nearly 27 percent since October 2017, to more than $1,500 an ounce. The last time gold was as expensive was April 2013, after it had declined from its August 2011 recession high of $1,917.90. Last month, analysts at Citigroup predicted that gold could hit $2,000 an ounce.

Read more via: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/business/etf-investors-gold-drawbacks.html

US gold futures dipped 0.3 per cent to $1,502.9 per ounce.

Reuters|Oct 03, 2019, 02.49 PM IST

Gold prices were little changed on Thursday, following a jump of more than 1 per cent in the previous session, as investors awaited more data with which to gauge US economic health and that could influence further US Federal Reserve action on interest rates.

Spot gold was steady at $1,498.89 per ounce, as of 0758 GMT, while US gold futures dipped 0.3 per cent to $1,502.9 per ounce.

“After the sharp gains we are seeing some minor pullbacks on profit-booking, while sentiment in t ..

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By Amrith Ramkumar

Updated Sept. 30, 2019 4:21 pm ET

This article is part of the Journal’s quarterly markets review, “Investing in a Low-Yield World.”

Unlike stocks and bonds, precious metals don’t give investors any income simply for holding them. So why were they among the market’s best performers in the third quarter?

The reason: In a world of falling—or outright negative—yields, nervous investors seeking havens are less likely to miss out on returns from bonds if they put money into gold or silver.

That eliminates the major trade-off that typically confronts those interested in owning gold: It offers no yield at all.

That declining opportunity cost is why trillions of dollars of negative-yielding debt around the world and sharp declines in Treasury yields in the U.S. have sparked a rally in precious metals. The price of silver rose 11% in the third quarter, while platinum rallied about 6%. Gold advanced 4% in the quarter and is now up 15% for the year, headed toward its biggest annual gain since 2010.

The sudden allure of precious metals highlights the turbulence of this year’s third quarter, in which stocks, bonds and other assets swung wildly as investors weighed the latest developments in the U.S.-China trade war. Stocks recovered from a turbulent August to creep back toward records in September, while bond yields, which move inversely to prices, stabilized after approaching record lows earlier in the month.

Read more via the Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-precious-metals-have-become-more-appealing-11569675601

(Kitco News) – After three-straight weeks of gains, cracks are starting to appear in gold’s bullish veneer, particularly among Wall Street analysts, according to the latest results of the Kitco News Weekly Gold Survey.

It has been a volatile week for the precious metal as unprecedented recession fears and new lows in bond yields drove investors from equity markets and into alternative safe-haven assets. However, the gold market is preparing to end Friday well off its six-year high, hit earlier in the week.

Although sentiment, especially among Wall Street analysts, remains clearly bullish, caution continues to creep into the marketplace.

read more via: https://www.kitco.com/news/2019-08-16/Bearish-Cracks-Appearing-In-Bullish-Gold-Market.html