Gold and silver dip amid inflation concerns and ongoing Iran war
Often seen as safe havens through times of uncertainty, precious metals aren't proving that way today, as oil prices spike amid escalations in the Iran war, compounding inflationary concerns and sending the SPDR Gold Shares ETF and iShares Silver Trust down 3.4% and 6.6%, respectively, at 6:55 a.m. ET.
Although the Fed kept rates steady yesterday, as was universally expected, officials raised their forecasts for inflation — a move which seems to have spooked investors, who had already been taking risk off the table in recent weeks. With Brent crude north of $114 per barrel this morning, investors look to be bracing for further inflationary shock and are dumping gold and silver, as implied odds of a Fed rate cut in June plummeted on prediction markets from 60% on February 23rd, to just 16% this morning.
The shiny metal slump is already weighing on mining stocks like Anglogold Ashanti, Newmont, Wheaton Precious Metals, and Agnico Eagle, which are all plunging in premarket trading.
