(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are higher in early U.S. trading Wednesday, with silver again leading to the upside. Prices are seeing a corrective bounce from Tuesday’s losses, as well as some position evening ahead of this afternoon’s FOMC minutes. April gold was last up $38.40 at $4,943.70. March silver prices were up $2.00 at $75.60.
U.S. data point of the day is FOMC minutes this p.m. Traders and investors will closely scrutinize the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes, due out early this afternoon. At the January FOMC meeting Fed policymakers opted to hold U.S. interest rates steady. An appetite for cutting rates would be a tailwind for raw commodity markets, potentially creating more demand. Fed Governor Michael Barr said on Tuesday rates should remain steady “for some time” until officials see more evidence that inflation is heading toward the central bank’s 2% goal. Fed Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee, meanwhile, said on Tuesday there was potential for more cuts this year if inflation continued on its path toward that target.
U.S.-Iran nuclear talks see some progress. The U.S.-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva on Tuesday "made progress," but "there are still a lot of details to discuss," a U.S. official told Axios. After negotiations with President Trump's envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, the Iranians offered to come back in the next two weeks with detailed proposals "to address some of the open gaps in our positions," the official said. Earlier Tuesday, Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi claimed that the two sides had agreed on the "guiding principles" for a potential nuclear deal, said Axios. Omani foreign minister Badr Albusaidi, who mediated the talks, said that the second round of negotiations ended "with good progress towards identifying common goals and relevant technical issues."
Japan starting to make big investments in U.S. Japan plans to invest up to $36 billion in U.S. oil, gas and critical mineral projects, the first tranche of its $550 billion commitment under the trade agreement it struck with President Trump. “The investments include a natural gas facility in Ohio, a deepwater crude export facility in the Gulf of Mexico, and a synthetic industrial diamond manufacturing facility, which are designed to build resilient supply chains and promote mutual benefits between Japan and the U.S,” Bloomberg reported. “The projects are expected to generate significant economic benefits, including power generation, crude exports, and advanced industrial production, and are seen as a key step forward for the trade and economic pact between the two countries,” said the report.
Ukraine says Russia dragging its feet on peace talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of attempting to prolong peace talks as a second day of U.S.-brokered meetings concluded in Geneva. “Russia is trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached the final stage,” Zelenskiy said on the X platform Wednesday and as reported by Bloomberg. The talks lasted about two hours, the head of Russia’s delegation, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, said. They were difficult but businesslike, and the next meeting will take place soon, he said. Following Tuesday’s discussions, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov met with representatives of the US, France, the UK, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. “We consider Europe’s participation in the process indispensable for the successful implementation of entirely feasible agreements,” Zelenskiy said on Wednesday. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, were present in Geneva, as they had been at two earlier rounds. Witkoff said today there’d been “meaningful progress” during the previous day’s talks, with both sides agreeing to continue work toward a deal. Still, the negotiations appeared to yield little progress even as the discussions were said to be broader in scope than in the Abu Dhabi meetings.
The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index a bit higher, with crude oil prices higher and trading around $63.75 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note is presently 4.06 percent.
Note: The gold market operates through two primary pricing mechanisms. The first is the spot market, which quotes prices for on-the-spot purchase and immediate delivery. The second is the futures market, which sets prices for delivery at a future date. Due to year-end positioning market liquidity, the December gold futures contract is currently the most actively traded on the CME.
Technically, April gold futures bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $5,250.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at last week’s low of $4,670.00. First resistance is seen at $5,000.00 and then at this week’s high of $5,074.40. First support is seen at this week’s low of $4,854.20 and then at $4,800.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.5.
March silver futures bulls see the next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at last $90.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the February low of $63.90. First resistance is seen at this week’s high of $78.42 and then at $80.00. Next support is seen at this week’s low of $71.815 and then at $71.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.0.
(Hey! My “Markets Front Burner” weekly email report is my best writing and analysis, I think, because I get to look ahead at the marketplace and do some market price forecasting. Plus, I’ll throw in an educational feature to move you up the ladder of trading/investing success. And it’s free! Sign up here; it’s real easy. https://www.kitco.com/services)
