Investing.com - Gold isn't soaring, but neither is it plummeting. The safe haven technically remains steady amid the bond yield reversion that's causing investors to flee stocks and chip away at the dollar as well.
"The whole world seems to heading to the bond market," said Walter Pehowich, executive vice president at Dillon Gage Metals in Addison, Texas, and a daily commentator on gold. "Almost every country's bond market is seeing yields drop and bond prices rise."
Benchmark COMEX gold futures for February settled up $1 at 1,243.60 per troy ounce as the flight to safety kept the yellow metal's new-found support above $1,240 intact.
"Most golds ETFs are positive for the year for now but stock woes and tariff worries persist," said George Gero, precious metals analyst at RBC Wealth Management in New York.
The dollar index, another contrarian trade to gold, was down 0.4% to 96.68 by 2:27 PM ET (19:27 GMT).
The dollar has lost its upward momentum since the start of November on dovish signals from the Federal Reserve, which has indicated a possible pause in interest rate hikes after a widely-expected December increase.
Among other precious metals on COMEX, silver slid by 0.3% to $14.55 per ounce.
Palladium tumbled 3% to $1,148.50 per ounce, while sister metal platinum fell 1.6% to $789.45.
In base metals, COMEX copper slipped by 1.1% to $2.74 per pound.