MarketWatch/Mark DeCambre/08-18-17
Gold futures on Friday were trading above $1,300 for the first time in 2017 and were on track for their third straight daily gain, as precious metals drew haven demand, sparked by a selloff in a global equities, a terrorist attack in Barcelona and concerns about President Donald Trump’s pro-business agenda.
…A flight to assets perceived as safe has been underpinned by Thursday’s selloff in equities, highlighted by the worst downdraft for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 index since May 17.
…Markets were roiled Wednesday by unfounded rumors that presidential economic adviser Gary Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs executive, was set to resign his post as White House economic adviser in response to the president’s reaction to a white-supremacist rally that left one woman, Heather Heyer, dead. Trump’s response to the rally has caused a furor among business leaders.
That political turmoil has thrown into question Trump’s ability to follow through on campaign promises, including pledges on deregulation, tax cuts and a boost to infrastructure spending that had helped propel risk assets higher and gold lower.
However, mounting headwinds in the stock market have provided a path for gold and Treasury notes to climb higher.
