Investing.com - Gold futures retreated from 3.5 month highs but ultimately traded higher on Monday, as investors await President Trump’s outline on his economic agenda, which includes tax reforms, infrastructure spending and foreign policy.
Gold for April delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $2.95 or about 0.023%, to trade at $1,264.45 a troy ounce by 13:00 ET.
Gold futures made strong gains in early morning trade, as jitters concerning President Trump’s address to congress on Tuesday weighed on the dollar, while continued uncertainty ahead of the elections in the Netherlands, France and Germany drew support for the yellow-metal’s ‘safe haven’ status.
The yellow-metal struggled to hold onto gains during U.S. trading hours, after a better-than-expected durable goods order print for January and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan dovish speech lifted the dollar from session lows.
The Commerce Department said on Monday that orders for durable goods rose 1.8 percent in January after two months of declines.
Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speech in Oklahoma on Monday had little impact on the dollar, after he reiterated that the rate hike should be sooner than later and said that even if the Fed raised interest rates “a few times” in 2017 the economy would likely grow more than 2% this year.
Gold is sensitive to moves in U.S. rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion, while boosting the dollar in which it is priced.
Commodities across the board gained amid weakness in the dollar, as silver traded higher at $18.44 up 0.17% while crude prices rose more than 0.3% to trade at $54.15 and Brent traded at 56.54 up 0.4%.
Copper was one the few commodities to buck the trend, and traded flat at $2.70