April Gold News 2018

North Korea and South Korea met earlier today to hold an inter-Korean summit for the first time in over a decade; a meeting which has been heralded as a significant step in bringing about peace in the Korean Peninsula.

The talks heavily focussed on bringing a formal end to the war after six decades of hostility, with President Kim and President Moon both signing the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula during the summit.

The German treasury is displaying part of its national gold reserves to the public for the first time, as part of a new exhibition running from April to September. Eight 12-kilogram bars are only display, as well as a range of historical coins and gold refining tools.

The exhibition, titled ‘Gold, Treasures at the Deutsche Bundesbank’ is being hosted at the German Money Museum, which is part of the Deutsche Bundesbank in Frankfurt. The display follows the return of half of Germany’s gold bullion from foreign vaults in the UK, USA, and France.

The price of vanilla per kilogram is now over $600 for the first time since 2004 – surpassing the current price of $550 per kilogram for silver. Tropical storms have battered Madagascar, the world’s primary vanilla producer, leaving the crops in dire straits and a sour taste in the mouths of buyers.

Stock markets across the world are suffering after the US Treasury’s latest figures showed its 10-year bond yields have reached 3% - a milestone not seen since 2014 and dubbed “psychologically important” by analysts as the first real test of the stock markets since their record levels in January.

Bonds are a secure investment due to governments guaranteeing repayment, and it’s this lack of risk that is stealing attention away from stocks and shares. Bond yields often act as a precursor for inflation too, which then results in interest rates rising as a countermeasure. The expectation of rate rises is driving demand, with investors hoping to capitalise on good yield rates.

China is reporting growth of 6.8% for the first quarter of 2018 according to their National Statistics Office. Strong consumer demand combined with government infrastructure spending programs has been cited as the reason for the economic surge, though rising debt levels a cooling housing market, and the US/China trade war remain a concern.

The Chinese government predicted 6.5% growth, so on paper surpassing this total can be seen as a good thing, but traditionally China has had very steady and perhaps even polished economic figures, arguably done to seem a little more appealing.

Pound Sterling has reached a 22-month high this morning against the US Dollar, climbing 0.2% to hit $1.437 during early morning trading. This new high follows seven days of consecutive gains for the Pound against the Dollar and puts the Pound 15% higher in value than this time last year.

The Pound has since fallen back the 0.2% to $1.432 but is still up 6% since the start of 2018, with Dutch bank ING calling Sterling the “darling currency of the world” as the Pound continues to exceed expectations.

As world leaders threaten missile strikes against Syria, are we looking at a repeat of the Iraq War in 2003 or, with Russia backing President Assad, is this a military intervention the West simply can’t risk?

The price of an ounce of palladium has risen by more than 5% in the past week following US sanctions against Russia and one of the leading palladium producers in the world, and there are now fears that supply could be hit as the US/China trade war escalates.

The United States will reach an annual budget deficit of $1 trillion by 2020, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office. The non-partisan organisation produces annual reports on the state of the US economy and forecasts for the future but re-released updated predictions to account for the $1.3 trillion government spending bill and the $1.5 trillion tax cuts approved by the Trump administration last year.

Sales of gold jewellery in Dubai have fallen by 40-50% in the first quarter of 2018 following the introduction of 5% VAT as of January 1st. 14.5 metric tons of gold was sold in Q1 of 2017, down now to around 8 metric tons for the same period.

The US Mint has reported significantly poorer sales figures for March 2018 compared to previous months and the same time last year. Gold Eagles had their worst month ever, selling 3,500 ounces compared to 5,500 in February and down from March 2017’s sales figure of 6,415 ounces.

Silver has behaved equally as bad for the US Mint, with the lowest sale figures since 2007. March 2017 saw the Mint sell 1.6 million Silver Eagles to authorised purchasers and wholesalers, but they only managed 915,000 last month – a 43% drop in sales one year on and a 2.9% drop from this February.

The amount of platinum that buys an ounce of gold has reached a new peak level. The previous peak of 1.42 occurred in September last year, indicative of platinum’s decline in popularity, but now there is a new peak of 1.46 ounces of platinum per ounce of gold.

A Swedish-owned mining firm has finally secured financial backing to begin mining silver and other precious metals, such as gold, zinc, and lead, in eastern Finland, with development work to begin this year and initial production to come in Q1 2019.

The company announced at the end of March that it had raised €46 million to fund the project.

Global stock markets continue to suffer as China begins to ramp up its retaliation against trade tariffs imposed by the United States. The Chinese government has imposed a 25% tax on 106 US goods, including soybeans and pork.

Since opening today the FTSE 100 is down 0.47% – a 33.30 points drop since opening. In America, the S&P 500 Index lost 2.2%, while the Dow Jones dropped by 1.9%. Over in Asia and Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.45% down in value (less than the initial 1.5% drop), while the Shanghai Composite ended even lower at 0.84%.