The impact of America’s historic tax cuts passed in December will befelt in the second quarter, according to economists from CIBC World Markets.The bank expects U.S. second quarter growth to exceed 4%. “While theremainder of the year won’t look as hot, expected strength in business capitalspending will be enough to propel 2018 just under 3% growth,” the analysts say.However, the bank also thinks an uptrend in inflation remains elusive. “Therise in headline inflation hasn’t been mirrored in core measures as gasolineprices have done much of the work, support that will fade in 2019,” the bankadds. According to some analysts, stronger economic growth in a lowinflationary environment has been one of the reasons why gold struggled toattract investor attention.
By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com
Wednesday July 04, 2018 10:31
The gold market is seeing modest gain in what is a quiet session becauseof U.S. Independence Day. In electronic markets, August gold futures lasttraded at $1,257.30 an ounce, up 0.31% on the day; however, Lukman Otunuga,research analyst at FXTM warns investors that the market is not out of thewoods yet. “While the yellow metal has scope to appreciate further amid asoftening Dollar, the outlook remains bearish in the medium to longer term.This year, Gold is still at risk to losing more value on the outlook that theDollar could strengthen further,” he says. “Much attention will be directed towardsthe US jobs report on Friday which could play a key role in where Goldconcludes this week. A strong NFP figure coupled with signs of acceleratingwage growth may boost speculation of higher US interest rates - ultimatelypunishing Gold.” Looking at the technical picture, Otunuga adds that gold needsto push above $1,260 to attract more buying momentum.
By Neils ChristensenFor Kitco News
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