Possible changes to oil leasing and permitting requirements governing federal lands could lower oil production in the Permian Basin, a report from the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said on Thursday.
A gauge of global equity markets was little changed on Friday and Wall Street gave back some of its early gains as investors took stock of a report that at first blush showed faster-than-expected U.S. jobs growth but was also a reminder that the recovery will still take.
Gold prices are at a 10-month low, given that we have vaccines in play and many more will come in the next few weeks and months to go. Does that mean that the appeal of gold as a safe haven is going to fall in the days to come?
Gold has been used as a safe haven and it worked very well in 2020. It worked very very well during the Covid crisis. The financial markets now say that Covid is finished but we all have to live with it and most of the people have not been vaccinated yet. Movements are still restricted though we are no longer in a lockdown. But financial markets always look forward and they are looking a very long way forward to a period when Covid is at least an everyday factor rather than a crisis. Gold has suffered because of that. The story around gold has been narrated very well because of Covid and now that Covid is finished, so too is gold.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday repeated his pledge to keep credit loose and flowing until Americans are back to work, rebutting investors who have openly doubted he can stick to that promise once the pandemic passes and the economy surges on its own.