By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Gold was up on Wednesday morning in Asia, as hopes that the latest U.S. stimulus measures would be passed by Congress before the Nov. 3 presidential election, and a COVID-19 treatment would be launched quickly, were dashed.
Gold futures edged up 0.17% at $1,897.75 by 12:53 AM ET (4:53 AM GMT), remaining below the $1,900 mark. The dollar was up on Wednesday.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi stymied hopes for the stimulus measures, rejecting President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.8 trillion package, saying it “falls significantly short of what this pandemic and deep recession demand.”
Tuesday’s news that Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) paused its government-sponsored clinical trial of its COVID-19 antibody treatment a day after Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) suspended clinical trials for its COVID-19 vaccine on Monday due to a mystery illness in one of the participants, decreased investor risk appetite, with hopes that a COVID-19 treatment would be released soon diminished.
The news, combined with Pelosi’s statement, also caused Asian Pacific stocks to slip on Wednesday.
In Asia, China is also scrambling to contain a COVID-19 cluster in the port city of Qingdao, its first reported cases in months.
During the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, taking place from Oct. 12 to 18, global finance leaders struck a dire warning on Tuesday that failure to put a lid on COVID-19, maintain stimulus, and address developing nations’ mounting debt will crush the fragile recovery. The number of global COVID-19 cases topped 38 million as of Oct. 14, according to Johns Hopkins University data.