Investing.com – President Donald Trump’s continuous back-and-forth on his prospective trade deal with China gave the gold market pause for a second straight day. The Federal Reserve’s indication that it might be done with rate cuts was another factor for gold bulls’ indecision.
Bullion and gold futures barely moved on Wednesday as traders tried to make sense of Trump’s latest remarks that he wished for a deal with China even as he renewed threat to increase tariffs against Beijing if the so-called phase one of their agreement wasn’t inked by Dec. 14.
The Fed’s meeting minutes for October, published Wednesday afternoon, meanwhile, showed an increasingly divided central bank on rate policy down the road, although a rate cut in December appeared to have very little prospects.
Gold futures for December delivery on New York’s COMEX settled Tuesday’s New York session down just a dime at $1,474.20 an ounce. Spot gold, which tracks live trades in bullion, was up 14 cents at $1,472.42 by 3:25 PM ET (20:25 GMT).
Beijing and Washington have been working on the phase one deal to end their 17-month impasse, with little progress reported thus far. “If we don’t make a deal with China, I’ll just raise the tariffs even higher,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday, spooking Wall Street. Stocks had hit a streak of all-time highs lately on White House assurances that a trade deal would be struck in just a matter of time.
TD Securities said in its daily precious metals outlook that “the mood in U.S.-Sino trade negotiations are helping gold prices firm.” TD added, "Looking forward, however, the gold bug ain't dead.” The report concluded that, “certainly, the yellow metal will offer optionality to the potential for further easing – TD Securities still expects the Fed to cut rates twice more in 2020 – while allowing money managers to benefit from a trend of lower real rates.”