Gold futures prices are modestly lower in early U.S. trading Monday
and have touched a four-week low overnight. Higher chances of a U.S.
Federal Reserve interest rate hike in December are bearish for the
precious metals.
The gold and silver markets have been reeling since
last week’s hawkish FOMC statement.
December Comex gold was last down 0.46% at $1,136.20 an ounce. December Comex silver was last down 1.07% at $15.400 an ounce.
There was more downside economic data coming out of China Monday. The Caixin China manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) climbed to 48.3 in October from 47.2 in September. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction. China’s other PMI report from the government came in at 49.8 in October, which was unchanged from the September figure. The news put Asian stock markets under pressure and also hurt raw commodity futures prices, including gold, silver and crude oil. China is the world’s largest raw commodity importer.
Meanwhile, the eurozone PMI was a little upbeat and came in at 52.3 in October versus 52.0 in September. A number of 52.0 was the consensus forecast.
Market players will now await data from the U.S. due later in the day which includes the U.S. manufacturing PMI, construction spending, the ISM manufacturing report on business, and the global manufacturing PMI.
