16th February 2017

 Gold recouped earlier losses and finished higher on the day on Wednesday. There were modest gains in silver as well, but we did see a more convincing advance in both platinum and palladium, with each of the metals closing up by some $8/ounce.

Higher-than-expected US inflation and retail sales boosted the dollar early on and that is when gold started to fade, but as the day wore on, the dollar began to lose steam, enabling a recovery to set in. In fact, the trading pattern in gold has been fairly consistent for much of the month -- despite soaring US equities and a stronger dollar, gold is managing to hold its ground as dips are being bought. We suspect that investors continue to expect more reflation (and inflation) coming out of the US and are therefore reluctant to get too bearish on the precious metal.