Precious metals-related exchange traded funds jumped Thursday recovering from its previous session losses as the U.S. dollar weakened and the slower recovery in the U.S. labor market added to safety bets in a post-coronavirus world.
Among the best performing non-leveraged ETFs of Thursday, the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) was 2.4% higher and the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) was up 8.7% as Comex gold futures pushed 0.8% higher to $1,963.7 per ounce and Comex silver futures increased 6.1% to $27.6 per ounce.
Meanwhile, the ETFMG Junior Silver Miners ETF (NYSEArca: SILJ) advanced 4.9%, VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDXJ) increased 4.5%, Global X Silvers Miners ETF (NYSEArca: SIL) rose 4.6% and VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDX) gained 3.6%.
“The overall consensus is the price should move higher rather than lower and that’s why we see some bargain hunting,” Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke, told Reuters, adding the mood was still “very bullish”.
While U.S. jobless claims dipped below one million last week for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, 28 million are still receiving unemployment checks and those new jobless claims reflected more permanent layoffs in the jobs market.
“The dollar has been quite weak … this recovery we’ve had (in the labor market) has been the low-hanging fruit. It’s an easy bounce,” Edward Meir, analyst at ED&F Man Capital Markets, told Reuters. “The initial claims are still running at a very high rate, and there is still a long way to go.”
The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) slipped 0.2% to 93.23 against a basket of widely tracked international peers, strengthening the attractiveness for gold among foreign currency investors.
Further adding to the uncertain outlook, Federal Reserve policymakers warned U.S. growth would be muted until the coronavirus was contained.
Investors are also watching out for a meeting between the United States and China on August 15, which may further shed light on the strained relationship between the two largest economies in the world.
“The underlying factors in the market have not changed significantly. The fact that gold did not move still higher when Sino-U.S. tensions escalated over the weekend signaled that most of the tailwinds were priced in,” StoneX analyst Rhona O’Connell said in a note. “Investor sentiment remains robust overall.”
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