News Bites
Gold and silver trade flat leading into the European open
(Kitco News) - Gold and silver are trading marginally lower leading into the European open. The yellow metal is once again at the $1800/oz psychological pivot zone while silver defended the drop below $25/oz. In the rest of the commodities complex, copper has pushed 0.67% higher and spot WTI is trading flat after an impressive 5.78% climb on Wednesday.
Risk sentiment overnight was good as the Nikkei 225 (0.58%), ASX (1.06%) and Shanghai Composite (0.30%) all closed in positive territory. This came after a decent lead from the major U.S. bourses.
In FX markets, the biggest mover was AUD/USD which has had a relief rally of 0.17%. The DXY is just -0.04% lower at the start of the session. In the crypto space, it seems that Bitcoin has successfully defended the $30k level for now as the bulls have managed to push the price to $32k.
Looking at some of the major news stories from overnight, it has been the worst day yet for state of NSW / Sydney (Australia) as cases jump again.
There were reports that the U.S. secretary of state Sherman is to visit China to improve relations between the two economic giants.
Joe Biden stated that there is some evidence that government benefits have given people an incentive not to go back to work. He also added, most experts believe long term inflation is not likely to get out of hand.
During the U.S. session, U.S. senators voted to block the opening of the debate on the bipartisan infrastructure deal. However, Manchin said significant progress had been made in negotiations and we are close to an agreement.
Biden also said the vaccinations (COVID-19) will be available for children under 12 by early September to end of August.
Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include the ECB announcement, U.S. weekly jobs data, EZ consumer confidence and comments from ECB's Lagarde.
