Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance, and the factors that affected gold prices.
What Did Gold Do in August?
This was a rough month for gold, as central bank rate hikes sent the dollar to 20-year highs and US markets began to think that inflation has already peaked.
The Bank of England raised interest rates by 50 bp as expected on August 4th, but its forecast of a 15-month recession starting by the end of the year AND 13% inflation shook markets and sent gold to its first settlement over $1,800 since June 30th.
A huge beat on non-farm payrolls the next day sent the dollar zooming, which tanked stocks and gold. Gold fell $25 immediately after the report, but made up half of the loss by the close of the day.
The damage was only temporary. Gold prices stayed above $1,800 for the entire second week in August, peaking at $1,815 on Friday the 12th. Gold then fell into a string of heavy losses, losing $67 over six days. It was guaranteed to end the month with a loss when the DXY dollar index broke above the 109 mark to hit a 20-year high on the 29th.
August marks the fifth monthly drop in a row for gold, the first time this has occurred in four years.Continue reading“August 2022 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran”