By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com - Up on the day and down on the week.
That’s the story in gold this Friday as both the spot price and futures of the yellow metal went through several hoops before settling slightly lower than where they did a week ago.
Most, importantly, the market did not crack the key ceiling of $1,750 per ounce, despite coming less than $4 of meeting that test.
With that, gold’s somewhat-positive-but-still-anemic run continues as bulls try to find a way beyond the mid-$1,700 level that’s critical for the build-up needed for a return to $1,800 pricing.
As the norm, what stands in their way are yields on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note that look likely to get beyond the 1.75% level next and a Dollar Index that could set new 92 highs.
“Gold prices are looking vulnerable as Treasury yields continue to push higher,” said Ed Moya, markets analyst at OANDA in New York. “A steady climb higher (in yields) should still be an environment that could have gold appreciate.”
Gold for April delivery settled Friday’s session up $7.20, or 0.4%, at $1,732.30 an ounce on New York’s Comex. For the week though, it dipped 0.5%.
The spot price of gold, which fund managers sometimes rely on for direction more than futures, was up $3.67, or 0.2%, at $1,731.01 by 3:04 PM ET (19:04 GMT). For the week, spot gold showed a decline of 0.8%.
Long associated with tags such as safe-haven, store of value and inflation-hedge, gold has debunked such connotations for at least six months now, plunging particularly when market hype over inflation sent Treasury yields soaring instead.
The yellow metal demonstrated the faith placed on it by investors through the height of the pandemic, rising from March 2020 lows of under $1,500 to reach a record high of nearly $2,100. It has plunged since, briefly turning into a bear market early month when it lost as much 20% to hit lows under 1,675.
While gold has crawled out of that hole, it's been stuck under $1,750, behaving more like a patient on life support than one on the clear path to recovery.