Dollar ticks higher, bond yields slump, stocks called mixed
Gold futures prices eased slightly early Tuesday, struggling to build on the weekly gain last week that came with renewed trade-war worries, although even the trade factor has had limited impact in dramatically rallying a haven metal that remains largely tied to the dollar’s moves.
Gold for June delivery on Comex GCM19, -0.49% fell $1.50, or 0.1%, to $1,282.10 an ounce, while July silver SIN19, -1.72% lost 9 cents, or 0.6%, to $14.47 an ounce. Metals trading was closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.
Gold logged a 0.6% weekly rise through last Friday and continues to nurse a slim monthly gain of about 0.2%. Silver added 1.2% for last week, helping to trim its monthly drop so far to a loss of 2.9%.
The U.S. dollar DXY, +0.19% ticked higher Tuesday relative to its peers. The 10-year Treasury TMUBMUSD10Y, -1.44% yield retreated to its lowest since Oct. 2017. Gold and other commodities priced in dollars can be hurt by a firmer greenback, making them more expensive to users of other currencies, and vice versa. Still, lower yields on bonds can be beneficial to assets like gold that offer no yield by reducing the opportunity cost of holding them.
Stocks pointed to a mixed open Tuesday. The major indexes SPX, +0.14% remain solidly higher for the year to date but have retreated in May as U.S.-China trade tensions heated up.
President Donald Trump, speaking at a joint news conference Monday in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said the U.S. wasn’t ready to make a trade deal with China.
Washington and Beijing have engaged in a round of tit-for-tat tariff escalations, while the Trump administration has moved to blacklist exports to Chinese technology firm Huawei, prompting threats of further retaliation by China.