Gold, silver sell off on reports Hezbollah seeking ceasefire

NEW YORK (October 8) Gold and silver prices are sharply lower and hit three-week lows in late-morning U.S. trading Tuesday, on news reports that the Hezbollah group based in Lebanon wants to discuss a ceasefire with Israel. Israel is presently conducting major military operations against the group in Lebanon. Market participants are deeming today’s news as a potential de-escalation of the Middle East tensions that have been elevated for weeks. December gold was last down $33.10 at $2,632.80 and December silver was down $1.40 at $30.61.

The Hezbollah news sunk the crude oil market, with Nymex crude down around $3.75 a barrel at $73.50 after hitting a 3.5-month high overnight. The U.S. dollar index has moved above unchanged today and is trading at its daily high, while U.S. Treasury yields have up-ticked lately—both bearish “outside-market” elements for the precious metals markets. The 10-year note yield is presently at 4.028%.

U.S. stock indexes are rallying today, which is also a negative for the safe-haven metals markets.

The highly anticipated economic briefing by China’s National Development and Reform Commission Tuesday “underwhelmed markets, offering little in the way of new stimulus measures,” said broker SP Angel. That news prompted sell-offs in the Chinese stock indexes, with the Hang Seng index dropping almost 10% and it’s biggest one-day loss in nearly two years.

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