(RTTNews) – Partially reversing two sessions of losses, gold prices have surged on Thursday as investors anticipate an end to the recently triggered U.S.-Iran faceoff after U.S. President Donald Trump observed that Iran reached out to the U.S. to make a deal.
Front Month Comex Gold for August month delivery has soared by $54.00 (or 1.32%) to $4,136.40 per troy ounce.
Front Month Comex Silver for August month delivery has surged by $2.150 (or 3.69%) to $60.480 per troy ounce.
On Monday, in the Middle East, three separate incidents of projectile hits on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz triggered a backlash from U.S. forces.
On Tuesday, U.S. Central Command announced that U.S. military targeted more than 80 strategically important sites in Iran.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claimed hitting U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, in retaliation.
Speaking about this in Turkey in the sidelines of North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s summit, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he felt that the interim agreement signed on June 17 between the U.S. and Iran to cease attacks for 60 days and negotiate all issues is now over.
Trump strongly remarked that talking with Iran is a waste of time though he admitted that he allowed the current negotiations to continue.
Yesterday, Trump warned of further attacks on Iran and late yesterday, U.S. Central Command announced that U.S. forces completed the second round of attacks on Iran, hitting nearly 90 military targets in order to further degrade Iran’s ability to conduct attacks on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry stated that the U.S. strikes were a violation of the MoU signed last month.
Aboard Air Force One, Trump stated that Iran called and reached out to the U.S. seeking a deal badly but observed that he was skeptical if they would honor any agreement.
Though Iran officially did not respond to Trump’s claims, the possibility of a cessation of attacks led to easing of U.S. dollar value which supported gold prices.
The U.S. Federal Open Market Committee unanimously decided to hold the funds rate at 3.50% to 3.75% in its June 16-17 meeting.
The minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s June meeting was released yesterday which underscored an overall hawkish shift through the monetary policy committee.
Nine of the 18 participants expected at least one rate hike before the year-end and eight forecasted no change while only one predicted a cut.
The new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh did not submit any projection at all.
Economists are of the view that the summary projects slower growth along with stickier inflation.
In the backdrop of a largely muted June month jobs report, analysts feel that any immediate rate hike in July is unlikely.
On the economic front, data released by the U.S. Labor Department today revealed a resilient labor market.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the fell by 2,000 to 215,000 on the week to July 4, below expectations of a rise to 218,000 for the lowest count in six weeks.
Continuing jobless claims increased to 1,814,000 for the week ending June 27.
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