Biden and McCarthy locked in disagreement postponing negotiations

The Washington standoff over raising the debt ceiling has raised economic concerns on a global basis. A nonpartisan congressional report cited a "significant risk” of a historic default within the first two weeks of June. A report by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office confirmed statements by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warning that a government default could come as early as June 1.

The debt limit meeting between President Joe Biden and top lawmakers which was scheduled for today has been postponed. The meeting has been rescheduled for early next week. The divide between both sides remains too large for any genuine progress to result from the meeting today. Rather staff on both sides will continue to negotiate through back channels to find common ground, as well as compromises that both the Democrats and Republicans are willing to consider.

According to Republican representative Daniel Webster, "Spending levels are the key… Spending cuts are a place where we are stuck. Not with all of them, but with a list of them.” President Biden's 2024 budget request relies on tax increases to reduce deficits while proposing to increase discretionary spending by 5% next year. That creates a $200 billion differential with House Republicans who believe an 8% budget cut is necessary while increasing the defense budget.

Concern over the potential for a U.S. default is global. At a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) David Malpass President of the World Bank said that the "looming risk of a default, which would be the first in U.S. history, was adding to problems facing the slowing global economy”.

Although gold had fractional declines this week prices have been heavily supported by fears that no agreement will be reached by June 1 when the government will no longer be able to pay all its obligations.

As of 5:00 PM EDT Gold futures basis the most active June contract is currently fixed at $2015.60 after factoring in today's decline of $4.90 or 0.24%. Gold had a fractional decline when compared to last Friday's close as well as compared to Monday's open and current pricing. The most prominent factor taking gold lower this week was dollar strength. The U.S. dollar index opened at approximately 101 and is currently trading at its highest value this week of 102.5 a net gain of 1 ½% taking the dollar index to 102.54.

By

Gary Wagner

Contributing to kitco.com

Time to Buy Gold and Silver

David

Gold, silver hit by heightened recession worries

Gold prices are lower and silver prices sharply lower in midday U.S. dealings Thursday. Some fresh banking jitters and weaker U.S. economic data today have rekindled concerns about an economic recession being on the horizon. Gold and silver market bulls are somewhat frustrated their metals are not performing better due to safe-haven demand amid the keener marketplace uncertainty. However, at least on this day it appears metals traders are more focused on the bearish weaker consumer and commercial demand implications a U.S. and/or global recession would have on metals markets. June gold was last down $17.10 at $2,020.10 and July silver was down $1.283 at $24.37.

Today’s producer price index report for April came in at up 0.2%, versus expectations for up 0.3% from March, and compares to a drop of 0.5% in the March report, month-on-month. Gold prices initially were given a modest boost after the tamer PPI print.

However, the weekly U.S. jobless claims report showed claims jumped higher than expected in the latest week, at up 264,000 versus the forecast rise of 245,000. That report, combined with PacWest bank shares dropping sharply after reports that deposits dropped 9.5% last week, unsettled the marketplace and reignited recession fears. The U.S. dollar index and U.S. Treasuries saw better demand today, on safe-haven bids. Still, it’s my bias that gold and silver will see better safe-haven demand if the banking turmoil heats up in the near term.

Global stock markets were mostly firmer overnight. U.S. stock indexes are mixed at midday. Traders and investors are still monitoring the U.S. debt-limit-extension rhetoric coming from lawmakers. President Biden meets with congressional leaders again Friday, after little progress was made in a meeting earlier this week. U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen said it’s doubtful the Biden administration could avoid a government default without Congress agreeing on a plan to deal with the debt matter.

The Bank of England met Thursday on its monetary policy, with the BOE raising its main interest rate by 0.25%, as expected.

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index solidly higher. Nymex crude oil prices are lower and trading around $71.50 a barrel. Meantime, the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield is presently fetching 3.3%–down following the PPI and jobless claims data.

Technically, June gold futures bulls still have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a 2.5-month-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the record high of $2,085.40. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,980.00. First resistance is seen at today’s high of $2,047.60 and then at this week’s high of $2,056.00. First support is seen at $2,007.00 and then at $2,000.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 7.5.

July silver futures prices hit a five-week low today and bulls have faded. A price uptrend on the daily chart has been negated. The silver bulls do still have the overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the April and May high of $26.435. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $23.00. First resistance is seen at $24.735 and then at $25.00. Next support is seen at $24.00 and then at $23.75. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.5.

July N.Y. copper closed down 1,490 points at 369.20 cents today. Prices closed near the session low and hit a 5.5-month low today. The copper bears have the overall near-term technical advantage and gained more power today. Prices are in a four-week-old downtrend on the daily bar chart. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at 400.00 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at 350.00 cents. First resistance is seen at 375.00 cents and then at 380.00 cents. First support is seen at 365.00 cents and then at 360.00 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 3.0.

By

Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Time to Buy Gold and Silver

David

Gold, silver sell off on profit taking; US PPI now in focus

Gold and silver prices are lower at midday Wednesday and have erased the modest gains seen in the immediate aftermath of a U.S. inflation report that was close to market expectations. Profit taking from the speculative futures traders is featured in both markets. June gold was last down $11.00 at $2,031.90 and July silver was down $0.343 at $25.555.

The U.S. data point of the week saw the April consumer price index come in at up 0.4% from March and up 4.9%, year-on-year. The CPI was expected to come in at up 0.4% from March and up 5.0%, year-on-year. CPI in March was up 5.0%, year-on-year. The April core CPI (excluding food and energy) was up 0.4% from March and up 5.5%, year-on-year, versus the forecast of up 5.5% and compares to up 5.6% in the March report. In the immediate aftermath of the CPI report the marketplace breathed a sigh of relief the inflation numbers did not come in hotter than expected. However, after digesting the data, overall, traders and investors reckoned the CPI data is a wash and probably does not alter the Federal Reserve's trajectory of its monetary policy. The marketplace is now focused on Thursday morning's U.S. producer price index report.

Global stock markets were mixed to weaker overnight. U.S. stock indexes are mixed at midday.

President Biden on Tuesday afternoon met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders to discuss raising or suspending the U.S. debt ceiling. No agreement was reached but the lawmakers and the president will meet again Friday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently said the U.S. government could run out of money by June 1 if the debt ceiling is not raised. As the month of May winds down and if no U.S. debt extension is agreed upon, general marketplace anxiety will ratchet up.

In other news, China is expanding its gold reserves and may be abandoning the U.S. dollar. Nigel Green of deVere Group says such may be occurring after news that China's gold reserves increased by 8.09 tons in April. Total gold stockpiles in China reached 2,076 tons after that nation added 120 tons in the five months through March. "Historically, China has been a major buyer of U.S. Treasuries, but this has seen a marked cooling off as Beijing swaps them out in favor of gold."

  Gold is well supported at $2,000 but don't look for record highs before Q2 2024 – Commerzbank

Green said this strategic move will limit China's dependence on the U.S. dollar, as trade and political relations with the U.S. deteriorate. "Buying gold rather than dollars may also signal moves by China that it is eventually seeking to replace the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency. Building stocks of the precious metal and allowing the Chinese yuan to be traded freely would weaken the U.S. dollar's dominance as the global reserve currency."

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index slightly lower. Nymex crude oil prices are weaker and trading around $73.00 a barrel. Meantime, the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield is presently fetching 3.462% and dipped a bit after the CPI report.

Technically, June gold futures bulls still have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a 2.5-month-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. Bulls' next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the record high of $2,085.40. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,980.00. First resistance is seen at today's high of $2,056.00 and then at $2,063.40. First support is seen at this week's low of $2,022.00 and then at $2,007.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 7.5

July silver futures prices were scoring a bearish "outside day" down. The silver bulls have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $27.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $24.00. First resistance is seen at $26.00 and then at the April high of $26.435. Next support is seen at today's low of $25.455 and then at $25.25. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 7.5.

July N.Y. copper closed down 710 points at 383.05 cents today. Prices closed near the session low. The copper bears have the overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a three-week-old downtrend on the daily bar chart. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at 408.00 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at the January low of 372.45 cents. First resistance is seen at 390.00 cents and then at this week's high of 395.95 cents. First support is seen at the April low of 381.65 cents and then at 380.00 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 4.0.

By

Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Time to Buy Gold and Silver

David

Gold price to keep trading at historically high levels as markets monitor debt ceiling debate and credit conditions – analysts

Concerns about credit conditions and the debt ceiling debate will keep gold prices at historically elevated levels for the next few months, according to analysts.

The gold market retreated Friday as the banking fears subsided and the U.S. April employment report came in better than expected.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell back to a 53-year low of 3.4%, while the economy added 253,000 jobs last month.

"The employment market is showing clear resilience despite the drastic increase to U.S. interest rates over the last year and this resilience is going to afford Fed policymakers patie

Gold price to keep trading at historically high levels as markets monitor debt ceiling debate and credit conditions – analysts

Concerns about credit conditions and the debt ceiling debate will keep gold prices at historically elevated levels for the next few months, according to analysts.

The gold market retreated Friday as the banking fears subsided and the U.S. April employment report came in better than expected.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell back to a 53-year low of 3.4%, while the economy added 253,000 jobs last month.

"The employment market is showing clear resilience despite the drastic increase to U.S. interest rates over the last year and this resilience is going to afford Fed policymakers patience to ultimately continue to watch economic data before making any decisions over the narrative on the future monetary policy outlook," said CompareBroker.io chief analyst Jameel Ahmad.

June Comex gold futures were last at $2,024.30 an ounce, down 1.3% on the day. This came after Comex prices tested record highs of $2,085.40 earlier in the week.

"Banking worries seem to have disappeared today. But that is a story that is not going away any time soon," OANDA senior market analyst Edward Moya told Kitco News. "Overall, risks are to still elevated, credit conditions will continue to tighten. And with U.S. President Joe Biden meeting for debt ceiling talks. The risks will return."

The gold market won't face any serious obstacles until the debt ceiling issue and the banking sector turmoil are resolved, said Capital Economics commodities economist Edward Gardner.

"Concern about banks and the U.S. debt ceiling will keep the gold price historically high in the next few months. However, once these worries fade, we think that longer-term headwinds will come into play," Gardner said Friday. "Our new indicator of financial stress in advanced economies indicates that the gold price is benefiting from safe-haven demand related to banking troubles."

Washington is currently at a stalemate on the U.S. debt ceiling increase, which increases the risk of a default by June 1.

RBC Wealth Management warned this week that this year's political and economic backdrop is "one of the most challenging."

The last time the debt ceiling really shook markets was in 2011, and there are some parallels to be drawn between then and now.

"In 2011, the U.S. reached its debt ceiling on 16th May and, after much political wrangling, passed legislation to raise it on 1st August. On that date, the gold price was up by 9% month on month, which was probably in part due to U.S. government finance concerns. These same concerns have, of course, recently resurfaced," Gardner.

These issues might plague markets for the next few months, which will keep gold around the $2,000 level, according to Capital Economics.

Capturing record highs again in the short term might be challenging, but gold will likely get there again, Moya said.

"Inflation will prove to be sticky, which will justify the Fed maintaining a higher for longer stance. But the outlook for gold is bullish. Do we recapture record high? There is a good case to be made that eventually, we will."

Gold's key support is currently at $1,990, and the first resistance could be at $2,040 an ounce.

"The Fed is done for now. June meeting is likely to be a pause. Gold's key drivers will be the debt ceiling, banking concerns, and recession risks," Moya said.

 

Next week's data

Wednesday: U.S. CPI

Thursday: Bank of England rate decision, U.S. jobless claims, U.S. PPI

Friday: Michigan consumer sentiment

By

Anna Golubova

For Kitco News

Time to Buy Gold and Silver

 

David

Gold gains traction as Fed hints at a pause after raising rates ¼%

The Federal Reserve concluded this month's FOMC meeting and as expected the Fed raised its terminal rate by ¼%. This takes the Fed benchmark rate to between 5% and 5 ¼%. Most importantly, after 10 consecutive rate hikes the Fed signaled that they may finally enact a pause of further rate increases at the next FOMC meeting in June.

This would allow the Federal Reserve to assess the damage from recent bank failures, and gauge inflationary levels which will lag behind rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. A pause would also allow the Fed to wait for a resolution over the US debt ceiling dilemma.

The rate hikes enacted by the Federal Reserve have definitively taken inflation down, it has also caused tremendous fallout. Continued rate hikes not only would have a detrimental effect on the economy but it would also have less of an effect on reducing inflation. Inflation has hit an area in which many sectors remain persistent or sticky and as such continued rate hikes would not have the intended effect of reducing inflation but would have the unintended effect of causing more harm to the financial system.

Gold futures broke out of their defined trading range between $1980 and $2020 yesterday. On a technical basis, prices were stuck inside of an asymmetrical triangle with a descending upper resistance line and a flat bottom. Yesterday's strong upside move took current gold futures pricing well above the upper-level resistance line. This resistance line proved to be definitive support as gold traded to a low of $2016 today which is precisely above the former resistance line which I now believe will act as a technical level of support.

The chart above is a 240-minute Japanese candlestick chart of June gold futures. It clearly illustrates both the flat bottom that is defined by multiple occasions in which gold traded to $1980 but close well above it. It also illustrates that gold has traded with a series of lower highs up until yesterday's breakout which took gold above its former resistance level.

As of 4:50 PM EDT gold futures basis, the most active June contract is up $25.10 and fixed at $2048.50.

Concerns about the banking crisis and the debt-ceiling remain unanswered

Now that the Federal Reserve has concluded this month's FOMC meeting, market participants will focus intensely on two major events that could lead to tremendous economic upheaval. There continues to be angst about the political standoff between the Democratic and Republican legislators regarding raising the debt ceiling. The fact that the government will not be able to meet its obligations much sooner than anticipated earlier is troublesome. More importantly, the divide between the Democrats and Republicans has never been wider which will make it very difficult for a compromise to be reached. As I've said over the last two days, during other instances where the debt ceiling had to be raised legislators played “kick the can down the road" however in this instance with so little time left to resolve the issue it seems are “playing a game of chicken".

Lastly, the banking crisis continues to be extremely worrisome as the possibility of more banks becoming insolvent remains. Collectively, the debt crisis remaining unresolved and the potential for more banks to become insolvent will have an exceedingly detrimental effect on the economy. These factors will continue to be highly supportive of gold moving higher.

By

Gary Wagner

Contributing to kitco.com

Time to Buy Gold and Silver

David

Gold surges as concerns of banking crisis and the debt-ceiling crisis re-emerge

With the FOMC meeting to conclude tomorrow the Federal Reserve will most likely announce a ¼% rate hike and attention has shifted away from the Fed as market participants focus on other potential calamities within the financial markets.

Genuine angst regarding the debt ceiling and concern about the re-emergence of the banking crisis has weighed heavily on the minds of market participants. These concerns are so significant that for the first time, the CME's FedWatch tool is indicating that there is a 15% probability that the Federal Reserve will cut rates at the June FOMC meeting. The CME's FedWatch tool predicts that there is an 85% probability that the Fed will pause rate hikes in June. If so, this would be the first time the Federal Reserve has either not raised rates, or cut rates over the last 10 consecutive FOMC meetings.

Debt ceiling anxiety grows after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a letter yesterday said, “After reviewing recent federal tax receipts, our best estimate is that we will be unable to continue to satisfy all of the government's obligations by early June, and potentially as early as June 1, if Congress does not raise or suspend the debt limit before that time.”

This means that there is very little time left for a solution and compromise to be reached. Considering that the divide between the desires of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are so diametrically different it is hard to fathom a compromise will be reached in such a short time.

More alarming is that there are very few days in which members of the House, and the Senate will all be available to meet with the president. Considering the compromise that must be made by both parties there is an extreme uncertainty that a solution can be reached promptly.

The implications of solving the debt ceiling crisis before the government is unable to meet its obligations are profound. The economic effect if the two sides cannot reach an agreement is an unprecedented event. The repercussions are at best an economic recession and according to Secretary Yellen would have profound implications in perpetuity.

Now that the government has less time than previously believed to raise or suspend the debt limit it increases the probability of an 11th-hour showdown. Historically legislators have played kick the can, but in this instance, they are playing chicken.

The net result of all of these events occurring at the same time led to in a tremendous upside surge in gold prices. Gold futures traded to a high today of $2026.40. As of 5:30 EST the most active June 2023 contract of gold is currently up over $25 and fixed at $2025.60. Gold broke out of a pattern called a “descending top and a flat bottom” as today's solid gains broke above the upper descending trendline.

By

Gary Wagner

Contributing to kitco.com

Time to Buy Gold and Silver

David

Mastercard launches Crypto Credential for a more secure, verified blockchain experience

  Mastercard has announced the launch of Crypto Credential in an effort to establish a set of common standards and infrastructure that will help attest trusted interactions among consumers and businesses using blockchain networks.

According to the announcement posted on Friday, Crypto Credential is being created to provide a way for trusted, compliant and verifiable interactions to take place on public blockchain networks in order to bring more legitimacy to the blockchain industry.

“With Mastercard Crypto Credential, we can help ensure that those interested in interacting across Web3 environments are meeting defined standards for the types of activities they’d like to pursue,” the press release said. “Mastercard Crypto Credential will not only define verification standards and levels, but also provide necessary enabling technology to help bring more use cases to life.”

One benefit of the new service is that it allows for the creation of easy-to-remember aliases to help consumers share wallet addresses with one another. This helps to improve the consumer experience and reduces the potential for errors.

Crypto Credential will also “bring richer information to blockchain transactions through metadata, helping to define attributes of a wallet to help ensure that transactions are completed as intended,” Mastercard said.

The service will utilize CipherTrace’s suite of services to verify addresses and support Travel Rule compliance for cross-border transactions. Mastercard has partnered with crypto wallet providers Bit2Me, Lirium, Mercado Bitcoin and Uphold to enable transfers between the U.S and Latin America and the Caribbean corridors.

The payments firm has also joined forces with ith public blockchain network organizations Aptos Labs, Ava Labs, Polygon and The Solana Foundation to help introduce the application to developers in their ecosystems. “Together, we’ll collaborate to enhance verification in NFTs, ticketing, enterprise and other payments solutions,” Mastercard said.

This new service is just the latest cryptocurrency-related endeavor to be announced by Mastercard as the firm has been one of the most active multinational financial service providers in the crypto space in recent years.

In October, the firm announced the launch of ‘Crypto Secure’, a new crypto service desk focused on helping banks identify and prevent fraud from occurring on crypto merchant platforms. Later that month, the company launched ‘Crypto Source’, a new program that enables financial institutions to begin offering secure crypto trading services to their customers.

In January, Mastercard partnered with Polygon to launch the Web3-based Mastercard Artist Accelerator program, which is designed to help up-and-coming artists get established and connect with fans in the Web3 arena.

By

Jordan Finneseth

For Kitco News

Time to Buy Gold and Silver

David

Gold market is in 'buy the dip' mentality until Fed's messaging, analysts watching Powell's banking sector comments – analysts

Gold is stuck in a tight range, with the "buy the dip" mentality dominating the market. Investors are keenly watching the Federal Reserve's widely expected 25-basis-point rate hike next week. But if markets interpret the messaging as a "hawkish pause," gold's rally could re-start, according to analysts.

The gold market is looking to wrap up April with a slight gain of 0.7% after reaching a 13-month high of above $2,050 an ounce earlier in the month. At the time of writing, June Comex gold futures were trading up 0.13% on the day at $2,001.60 an ounce.

"Gold is going to remain a buy-the-dips market until we get a few things ironed out as far as the economy is concerned," Walsh Trading co-director Sean Lusk told Kitco News.

Gold's rally failed at an important level, which might mean there is still a deeper setback to come, Michael Boutros, senior technical strategist at Forex.com, told Kitco News.

"Gold reached the 2022 high-day close at $2,049 and then posted a reversal lower," Boutros said Friday. "The $1,966 is the line in the sand, and we tested it last week. If we fall below that, a deeper washout to $1,912-$1,919 is possible. I would love to see that hold."

The objective in May is to find that exhaustion low before the next leg up in the gold price rally, said Boutros.

The Fed meeting: 'The devil is in the detail'

Markets are currently pricing in an 83% chance of a 25-bps hike on Wednesday, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

"From the Fed's standpoint, the devil is in the details. The 25 bps is heavily priced in," Boutros said. "Commentary will be key. The big thing to look for is if the Fed will start to mention the banking system and issues like the First Republic Bank troubles."

The banking sector turmoil is not over yet, Boutros warned. "The heavy emphasis will be on whether the Fed sees cracks or risk of contagion," he noted.

Media reports were circulating at the end of the week that the U.S. government was leading rescue talks for First Republic Bank.

Markets are still pricing in rate cuts later in the year, but the majority of analysts are having trouble reconciling the market's expectations versus the Fed's obligation to keep fighting the elevated inflation.

"Inflation won't be going away any time soon, which is why the Fed is not going to cut rates," Lusk said.

What the Fed can do is sit on its hands, which will be viewed by the gold market as the much-needed pause in its rate hike cycle.

"Gold positioning is at less than 50% of its peak, suggesting upside risk once the Fed signals the end of the current hiking cycle," said Suki Copper, precious metals analyst at Standard Chartered. "We expect a hawkish pause."

Many see the May hike as the last one in this tightening cycle, with Boutros stating that a June rate increase is likely off the table.

Gold's fundamentals are bullish: Analysts look for $2,100 on the upside

The gold sector is the safe place many choose to go into for cover amidst all the market uncertainty, said Lusk.

"There is the perfect storm to the upside for gold still. Some headwinds for the economy here are housing and growth. The stock market will have a lot of trouble navigating to where it was. A lot more flows will go into gold sooner rather than later. Gold is a great asset to park money and find some safe haven within the market. Dips will be bought here," he explained.

From a technical perspective, gold's first major support is at $1,950-40, and then $1,925, said Lusk.

On the upside, Lusk's targets are $2,060 and then $2,100, which will be 15% up on the year. "Above that, the $2,190 area is 20% on the year — that's my ultra-bullish upside target," he said.

Another event to watch next week is the U.S. employment report from April, with markets looking for job growth to slow to 178,000 positions added from March's 236,000. The unemployment rate is expected to tick up to 3.6%.

Other supportive gold drivers in the longer term are the debt-ceiling suspense and geopolitical tensions, analysts added. "Geopolitics is not at the forefront right now, but it will be an X-factor moving forward," Boutros said.

 

Data next week

Monday: U.S. ISM manufacturing PMI

Tuesday: U.S. factory orders, JOLTS job openings,

Wednesday: Fed meeting, Powell press conference, U.S. ISM services PMI, U.S. ADP nonfarm employment

Thursday: ECB meeting, U.S. jobless claims,

Friday: U.S. nonfarm payrolls

By

Anna Golubova

For Kitco News

Time to Buy Gold and Silver

David

Gold a bit weaker following downbeat U.S. GDP data

Gold prices are modestly down in midday U.S. trading Thursday, in the aftermath of a major U.S. economic report that was weaker than expected and falls into the camp of those expecting a U.S. economic recession. Such a scenario would likely mean less consumer and commercial demand for metals. June gold was last down $3.40 at $1,992.80 and May silver was up $0.009 at $24.885.

First-quarter U.S. GDP growth came in lower than expected at up 1.1%, year on year, compared to expectations for a rise of 2.0%. The closely watched PCE price index of the GDP data came in hot at up 4.2%; it was expected to be up 3.7%, year-on-year, versus a rise of 3.9% in the fourth quarter. The hotter PCE number falls into the camp of the U.S. monetary policy hawks, who want the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer, to choke off problematic inflation.

Global stock markets were mostly higher overnight. U.S. stock indexes are solidly higher at midday. Risk appetite is better Thursday, but by no means robust, following the big drop in share price of First Republic Bank earlier this week. Also, the specter of a U.S. economic recession is moving closer to the front burner of the marketplace. It could be that the growing U.S. government debt burden and congressional wrangling regarding what to do about it are also crimping investor enthusiasm. Reads a Wall Street Journal headline today: "Banking turmoil is tip of debt iceberg."

  Gold consolidates but remains on a 'golden cross path' higher – NDR's Tim Hayes

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index firmer. Nymex crude oil prices are up and trading around $74.75 a barrel. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield is presently fetching around 3.5%.

Technically, June gold futures bulls have the firm overall near-term technical advantage. However, a six-week-old uptrend on the daily bar chart has stalled out. Bulls' next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the April high of $2,063.40. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at the April low of $1,965.90. First resistance is seen at this week's high of $2,020.20 and then at $2,028.00. First support is seen at last week's low of $1,980.90 and then at $1,965.90. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 7.0

]

May silver futures bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the April high of $26.235. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $23.00. First resistance is seen at this week's high of $25.435 and then at $25.71. Next support is seen at this week's low of $24.53 and then at $24.25. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 7.0.

May N.Y. copper closed up 115 points at 386.50 cents today. Prices closed nearer the session high and hit a nearly four-month low early on today. The copper bulls and bears are on a level overall near-term technical playing field. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at 410.00 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at 360.00 cents. First resistance is seen at 390.00 cents and then at Tuesday's high of 397.00 cents. First support is seen at today's low of 380.50 cents and then at 377.50 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.0.

By

Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Time to Buy Gold and Silver

David