Gold firmed on Thursday to move within several dollars of Monday's high at 1588.47, the high water mark during the coronavirus crisis thus far. However, these gains could not be sustained and the yellow metal closed less than $2 lower.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Wuhan coronavirus a "public health emergency of international concern." Who also recommended that the interim name of the disease be “2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease” and gave a hashtag of #2019nCoV.
Silver seemed to reclaimed the safe-haven mantel today. The white metal continued to rebound and at one point had retraced nearly all of Tuesday's 3% decline, but faded into the close. Silver managed a close back above the 9-day SMA. The gold/silver ratio tumbled more than 2% intraday, closing 1.6% lower.
Silver is far from being out of the woods, but today's price action gives the bulls renewed hope. The white metal has a range of nearly $1 this week and I suspect short-term volatility to remain elevated. Is it an industrial metal or a safe-haven? Apparently it depends on the day.
Copper got hammered again today, suggesting that Chinese and global growth risks remain a major concern. The red metal retested the 2.5135 low from 01-Oct, which is the last significant barrier ahead of the 2019 low at 2.4795.
Platinum hit a 3-week low before rebounding into the close. Palladium was relatively calm, forming a second consecutive inside day.
Rhodium notched a Johnson Matthey New York base price of $10,100. That ties the previous all-time high base price from June 2008.
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