Gold Prices Jump Amid Latest Trump Scandal

Cassie Bastien

7/12/2017 11:02:42 AM

Daily Gold & Silver Market Report – 07/12/2017

The dollar weakened and investors turned their attention back to Precious Metals over concerns regarding emails showing President Donald Trump's son apparently meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer to assist Moscow in influencing the U.S. election. CNBC reports that emails were released late Tuesday about Trump Jr. offering “high level and sensitive information,” damaging to Hillary Clinton. Reporter Leslie Shaffer says, “Those messages show he was told prior to the meeting that the effort was part of the Russian government's support for his father's presidential campaign.” Why does this matter? Although President Trump did not attend the meeting, reporters say a special counsel and congressional committee are both “investigating Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.” In fact, Richard Painter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, said the three leaders of the Trump campaign, Trump Jr., Paul Manafort and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, all attended the meeting. CNBC reports that U.S. stocks initially dropped amid the release of the emails but have slowly recovered. Gold prices, along with other Precious Metals, used it as an advantage to safe-haven appeal and started to rebound after what has been a tough couple of weeks. Citi analysts said in a Tuesday note the revelations about the younger Trump's emails may have changed investors' calculus.

Yellen Notes “Uncertainty” Over Inflation

While repeating past remarks about recent low inflation readings being transitory, SeekingAlpha News Editor Stephen Alpher says Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen stated there is “uncertainty” about how inflation will respond to reduced slack in the economy. Yellen’s speech, set for 10 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, will discuss further interest rates for 2017 and 2018. Though factors currently holding down the neutral rate are likely to diminish over time, Yellen mentions the Fed Funds rate won't have to rise much further to get to a neutral policy stance. Alpher reported Gold prices moved higher by 0.75 percent, while Bond Treasury yield falling a full five basis points to 2.31 percent.

At 12:02 p.m. (ET), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,223.60 Up $5.90
• Silver, $16.04 Up $0.18
• Platinum, $921.90 Up $21.20
• Palladium, $870.80 Up $15.90

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