June Gold News 2018

The Pound gained over half a percent in value today after the Office for National Statistics revised its earlier growth figures for the UK economy in the first quarter of 2018.

The yield curve, which is the difference between interest rates and returns on short-term and long-term government bonds, has inverted in the United States for the first time since 2007. The fear for investors and market experts is that inversions usually predicate a recession and have consistently served as a warning.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Trade Union Confederation (TUC) have challenged the UK government to accelerate the Brexit negotiations with the EU in order to prevent job losses and industrial stagnation in Britain.

The price of gold is at a 2018 low as the US Dollar continues to outperform other major currencies. An ounce of gold now costs $1,253 – a drop of $22.25 over the past six months and at 3% it’s the largest monthly loss since September last year.

Stock markets all over the world are experiencing large-scale selloffs after the United States announced plans to introduce $34 billion in global trade tariffs from July 6th, 2018. Investors are concerned that the ongoing dispute between the US and others will escalate into a full-blown trade war, which would seriously limit investment opportunities and the flow of goods and services.

The People’s Bank of China is to lower the amount of reserves that banks are required to have with the central bank; freeing up around $108 billion (700 billion Yuan) for these commercial banks in a move to boost lending and help tackle debt repayments.

The central bank claims the decision was made to benefit small companies...

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have published the second set of results from their Financial Lives survey across the UK, exploring consumer banking habits. Their survey of 13,000 adults found that 12% of people have no savings or investments.

German refiners Heraeus issued a statement on Monday highlighting a predicted drop in industrial demand for silver in the second half of 2018, with Chinese photovoltaic solar panel installations at the heart of the demand drop.

Property developers Berkeley have warned shareholders today that they believe the market to be at a peak for profitability, and that future profits won’t stay at the level recently reported. The Surrey-based firm estimated a reduction in profits of up to 30% if the housing market continues to struggle over the next few years.

The European Central Bank has announced that it will wind down its quantitative easing (QE) programme by the end of 2018. The policy was a support buffer for the Eurozone and nations within the shared Euro currency, but global economic growth has been strong enough for the ECB to decide now is a good time to slowly step back.

Inflation in the UK remained at 2.4% in May, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. This is the third month in a row that UK inflation has been at 2.4%, despite a promising start to the year and a steady reduction from 3%.

The Federal Reserve announced its second interest rate of the year on Wednesday, pushing rates up from 1.75% to 2%. The move was widely expected and brings the US back to inflation levels last seen just before the Great Recession began in 2008.

Leave campaign funder Arron Banks is under investigation over ties to the Russian government amid fears it may have influenced the Brexit referendum back in 2016.

Banks, a Bristol-based businessman, was a key part of Leave’s success and was well known for his anti-EU stance following several large donations to UKIP in previous years.

2018 will be a slow but steady improvement for gold prices and gold demand, according to analysts at Thomson Reuters who have released their latest annual gold survey.

The 85-page document uses data provided by Tanaka Precious Metals, Valcambi Suisse, PAMP Suisse, Perth Mint, Italpreziosi, YLG Bullion, OLME to give an approximation of the performance of gold in 2017 and combines that with older data to help predict 2018.