Monthly Summary
September 2018
Precious metals started to gain momentum in September with gold spending most of the month in the green before ultimately falling to finish down 0.70%. Silver fared better, finishing the month up 1.2%. Platinum and Palladium performed very well in September, gaining 4.0% and 10.5% respectively. Palladium finished at its highest level since January—over $1,080.00 an ounce.
Gold spent the first part of September relatively stagnant connected to the US dollar, which was also less volatile than it had been in recent months. CPI data released on September 13 showed that consumer prices didn’t increase to expected levels, lessening concerns about inflation. The news initially helped gold rise to its two-week high as the dollar fell amid the potential for a reduced interest rate hike later this year. The dollar quickly recovered and gold retreated to the sub-$1,200.00 range. Silver responded even worse, dropping close to the $14.00 threshold and hitting its lowest level since January 2016.
The following week, gold got a boost as US-China trade tensions reached a new high. The US imposed new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods and China responded with their own tariffs and refusing to agree to a meeting to continue trade negotiations. The dollar dropped, and gold rose to the $1,210.00 range, its highest level of the month.
The Fed raised interest rates in late September, causing the US dollar to rise over 1% in two days and gold to plummet to 6-week low of $1,183.00. Gold did begin to rebound as the US dollar began to cool down after the Fed’s decision to raise rates, but ultimately finished the month at $1,192.00.
October 17, 2018
Gold is up $0.40 this morning, trading at $1,228.00, and is now up 3.5% since last Wednesday, its best weekly performance since December 2017. Stock futures are down across the board after posting their best-single day performance since March, with the Dow and S&P 500 rising 2.2% each.