Gold futures rebounded in trade Tuesday, as investors kept a close eye on consumer confidence and on U.S.-China trade talks.
Gold for December delivery GCZ19, +0.19% on Comex gained $2.10 or 0.14%, at $1,459.10 an ounce in trade, after opening largely flat, while December silver SIZ19, +0.91% edged 14 cents higher to $17.03 an ounce.
“The action today is probably rebounding off the recent lows,” said Matthew Pierce, director of research at The Wealth Consulting Group in Las Vegas. “Gold has been finding support around the $1,450-ish level, a couple of times since it eclipsed $1,500 an ounce this fall.”
Check out: Gold reclaims $1,500 mark ahead of key central bank meetings
Market players also were monitoring the tone among U.S. consumers ahead of Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, which kicks off the day after Thanksgiving.
While fresh data showed U.S. consumer confidence fell for the fourth month in a row in November, pulling the consumer confidence index down to 125.5 from a revised 126.1 in October, the overall picture of the U.S. economy still looks healthy.
“Consumers are feeling pretty good, which bodes well for the holidays and should be good for sales,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price Futures Group in Chicago, in an interview.
“But the biggest negative that we’ve see on metals this week,” has said, has been optimism over a partial agreement to resolve the U.S. and China trade dispute. “But having said that, we still don’t have a deal.”
Top Chinese and U.S. negotiators agreed on talks toward a preliminary “phase one” deal, China’s Commerce Ministry said Tuesday. The ministry said Vice Premier Liu He, the country’s top negotiator, spoke by phone with U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — a conversation the official Xinhua News Agency described as focused on “solving issues regarding each other’s core concerns…”
Upbeat expectations around a trade deal helped contribute to a round of record closes for U.S. stocks on Monday. Stocks on Tuesday were poised to set their 10th record close of November.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, in remarks Monday evening, outlined an optimistic view of the U.S. economy but signaled that low inflation would likely keep rates low.
In other metals trade, January platinum PLF20, +1.35% rose 1.2% to $911 an ounce, while December palladium PAZ19, +0.55% gained 0.5% at $1,780.50 an ounce.
December copper HGZ19, +1.10% added 1% to $2.6750 a pound.
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