Investing.com -- Gold prices edged higher again on Wednesday on continued demand for haven assets in the face of collapsing bond yields and falling stock prices.
By 10:40 AM ET (1440 GMT), gold futures for delivery on the Comex exchange were up 0.9% at $1,502.65 a troy ounce, having risen as high as $1,504.15 after a weaker-than-expected report on private-sector hiring in September from payrolls processor ADP. However, the data didn’t add significant momentum to prices that had already risen sharply after Tuesday’s ISM Manufacturing PMI data.
Spot gold was likewise 1.1% higher at $1,496.10.
Bond yields, meanwhile, continued to head lower, with the two-year yield falling to a four-week low of 1.50% as traders priced in the growing likelihood of more rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. According to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool, the implied probability of another cut before the end of the year is now around 87.5%, while the chance of action already at the October Federal Open Markets Committee Meeting has risen to just under 75% from 64% a week ago.
With buyers still apparently ready to step in anywhere below $1,500, gold’s drift in the last couple of weeks is still seen by many as little more than a temporary pause in a long-term rally that will continue to be supported by lower interest rates around the world. Analysts at Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen see prices averaging $1,600/oz through the current quarter, rising to an average of $1,850 in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Analysts at JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) led by Natasha Kaneva wrote in a weekly note that, with the long-term upward trend clearer than the short-term one, selling short-dated gold call options to finance longer-dated calls could be “attractive”.
Among other haven plays Wednesday, Silver Futures rose 1.5% to $17.56 an ounce while platinum futures rebounded 0.6% to $891.60 an ounce.
Copper Futures, which tend to move inversely to haven assets, eked out a 0.4% gain to $2.57 a pound.