WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has not asked the Pentagon for options to reduce U.S. forces based in South Korea, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said in a statement on Friday.His comment comes after the New York Times, citing several people briefed on the deliberations, reported on Thursday that the president was seeking options to curb the number of American troops...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold prices areslightly up in early U.S. trading Friday, getting a modest boost from a U.S.employment report non-farm jobs number that was weaker than marketexpectations. However, a firmer U.S. dollar index is limiting the upside ingold and silver. June Comex gold futures were last up $2.50 an ounce at $1,315.00.July Comex silver was last up $0.038 at $16.485 an ounce. Thejust-relea...Read More
MUMBAI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - Demand for physical gold barely changed in major Asian hubs this week even as global prices weakened, while a correction in local rates in India prompted retail consumers and jewellers to start purchases.In India, gold futures were trading at around 31,011 rupees per 10 grams, after rising to their highest since August 2016 at 31,620 rupees last month.“Demand has...Read More
(Kitco News)-Gold prices turned positive Friday as the U.S. economy created fewerjobs than expected last month, according to the latest data from the LaborDepartment.The Bureau of Labor Statistics said 164,000 jobs were created in April; economists were expecting to see job gains of 190,000. Looking at revisions, February's data was revised down to 324,000 jobs, down from the previous report of326...Read More
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s banks are preparing for muted lending growth this year, providing a reality check on the state of the country’s economy and government efforts to stimulate growth.Saudi Arabia unveiled its Vision 2030 plan in 2016 to transform the country’s economy, which is still suffering the after effects of the slump in oil prices, recession and austerity mea...Read More
Tahoe Resources Inc. (TSX: THO;NYSE: TAHO) saysa labor strike at its La Arena gold mine in Peru has been resolved. Thestrike began April 20. Tahoe says “it was agreed by allparties that operations at La Arena should resume as soon as possible, as thisis in the best interest of all stakeholders.” Tahoe says it anticipates that operationswill reach normal levels within the next 48 h...Read More
Editor's Note: Welcome to Kitco's new Bitcoin Daily Technical Alert. Every trading day veteran Kitco technical analyst Jim Wyckoff will provide you with a concise and easy-to-understand near-term technical brief on Bitcoin. Importantly, Jim will glean the short-term charts and technical studies, and then alert you to the signals he sees regarding upcoming potential bigger price moves or price tren...Read More
PARIS (Reuters) - Western European car sales rose 9.1 percent in April compared to a year ago, helped by the timing of this year’s Easter holiday, according to industry data compiled by LMC automotive.Registrations last month came to 1.22 million cars, as many markets saw a higher number of selling days than in April 2017, the consulting firm said on Friday. Its numbers are based on national...Read More
LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - British new car registrations ended a year-long run of declines to rise by an annual 10.4 percent in April although an industry body cautioned the increase reflected a poor performance in the same month last year.Demand in April 2017 dropped 20 percent as a tax rise came into effect.Sales last month reached 167,911 units according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and...Read More
LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - A rise in U.S. 10-year bond yields above 3 percent for the first time in four years has triggered only small outflows from equity and bond funds so far, with a greater impact felt in emerging markets, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday.Its weekly data, which tracks fund flows from Wednesday to Wednesday, showed investors pulled $84 million from equity funds, whi...Read More
* Germany/U.S. spreads near widest since 1989* U.S. payroll data should offer inflation clues* Report quotes 5-Star Movement head repeating election call* Euro zone periphery govt bond yields tmsnrt.rs/2ii2Bqr (Adds China comments on trade dispute, updates prices)By Abhinav RamnarayanLONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - The difference between German and U.S. government bond yields was close to its highest...Read More
BEIJING (Reuters) - Top officials from China and the United States reached a consensus on some aspects of the countries’ trade row, but disagreements over other issues remain “relatively big”, according to China’s Xinhua news agency on Friday.The two sides, though, committed to resolving their trade disputes through dialogue, state-run Xinhua reported.And the U.S. negotiato...Read More
BEIJING/MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The North American unit of a Chinese customs inspection firm said it would suspend checks on cargoes of scrap metal from the United States for a month from Friday, effectively halting all imports of U.S. scrap.The suspension comes amid a broad crackdown on pollution in China and stricter regulation around waste imports. It poses a serious headache for China’s sc...Read More
BEIJING/MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The North American unit of a Chinese customs inspection firm said it would suspend checks on cargoes of scrap metal from the United States for a month from Friday, effectively halting all imports of U.S. scrap.The suspension comes amid a broad crackdown on pollution in China and stricter regulation around waste imports. It poses a serious headache for China’s sc...Read More
Holdings of gold by exchange-traded funds have fallen in recentdays after rising during April, points out Commerzbank. The ETFs trade like astock but track the price of the commodity, with metal put into storage to backthe shares. “The gold ETFs tracked by Bloomberg haverecorded outflows of 10.5 tonnes so far this week,” Commerzbank says. “Holdingswere topped up by 60 tonnes in A...Read More
Thursday saw a rally in themetals; however, both gold and silver made their highs early in the morning andspent the rest of the day selling off. Gold remains weak as it battles at the $1,310level. Silver is still stronger than gold and the trade is long silver, shortgold.Today is jobs Friday and promisesto move the metals in a big way, with the direction to be determined. Based onpast jobs numbers...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Mine operator Sibanye-Stillwater said on Friday that 10 of 13 miners trapped underground at its South African gold mine were rescued but four of the 10 have died from their injuries.The miners were trapped by at the company's Masakhane mine west of Johannesburg on Thursday after an earthquake caused a cave-in.Five of 13 miners were rescued on Thursday but one of them had d...Read More
* Spot gold headed for third weekly decline* Premiums in India, Singapore widenBy Rajendra Jadhav and Apeksha NairMUMBAI/BENGALURU, May 4 (Reuters) - Demand for physical gold barely changed in major Asian hubs this week even as global prices weakened, while a correction in local rates in India prompted retail consumers and jewellers to start purchases.In India, gold futures were trading at around...Read More
* LME/ShFE arb:* GRAPHIC-2018 asset returns: (Adds official midday prices, details)By Maytaal AngelLONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - Zinc prices hit their lowest inalmost nine months on Friday, the only base metal to trade innegative territory as investors expect a narrowing of the globalmarket deficit.Three month London Metal Exchange zinc was last biddown 1.1 percent at $2,975 a tonne in official midday...Read More
Could this biotech bet bank you 1,700% profit?Contributed by Raging BullBig pharma isn't what it use to be and investors are wondering what the future holds for the Goliaths of the industry.Kyle Dennis, one of the most well known up and coming traders, saw this shift happening when others didn't. Years ago, he began to place a heavy emphasis on small-cap biotech stocks he saw enormous upside for a...Read More