Morning Snapshot: Gold gains on political uncertainty, dollar losses

USAGOLD/Peter Grant/05-17-17

Gold continues to rise amid swirling U.S. political controversies that are once again threatening to derail President Trump’s fiscal agenda. The dollar has now erased nearly all of its post-election gains, falling to new 6-month lows.

“Risk-off” is the order of the day, which is weighing on stocks. Safe-haven demand is lifting gold, Treasuries and the yen. Treasuries are getting an additional boost as the political risks to the reflation trade weigh on Fed rate hike expectations. Fed funds futures now put the odds of a June hike at 69%.

Half of gold’s decline from the mid-April high at 1295.03 to the early-May low at 1213.60 has been retraced. These gains also put the yellow metal definitely back above the 200-day moving average. The next retracement level to watch is 1263.92 (61.8%). Above that, the high for the year would be back in play.