Gold rallies on more bargain hunting, short covering

NEW YORK (November 20) Gold prices are solidly higher and silver slightly down in midday U.S. trading Wednesday. Gold bulls have momentum as the market is seeing some mild safe-haven demand and more short covering and bargain hunting at mid-week. December gold was last up $21.00 at $2,652.20 and December silver was down $0.077 at $31.18.

Market participants are less nervous at mid-week, following Russia saying it is lowering its bar on using nuclear weapons against adversaries. There was some relief after Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would "do everything possible" to avoid a nuclear war.

U.S. stock indexes are lower at midday. U.S. traders await the biggest earnings report of the quarter from Nvidia after the market closes today. Said Bloomberg: “It’s hard to overstate how big Nvidia’s third-quarter earnings are for the short-term direction of the stock market. The chipmaker is the world’s biggest company, with a $3.6 trillion market value after the stock tripled this year, and it’s the embodiment of investors’ fever dreams of riches tied to the growth of artificial intelligence.”

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index solidly higher. Nymex crude oil futures prices are slightly firmer and trading around $69.75 a barrel. Reads a DowJones Newswires headline today: “Oil prices rise as intensifying Russia-Ukraine war raises supply concerns.” Meantime, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note is presently 4.41 percent.

KitcoNews