precious metals flash

Bernanke didn’t really change his stance, but his words were enough to spark a rally in risk, with the S&P 500 hitting a fresh 3 year high. Gold bulls joined the party, and large volumes traded on the April future right after his speech. 2.5 Million ounces changed hands as Gold jumped to 1681. The SPDR GLD ETF added 6 tons or 194’000 ounces to their holdings on this move. The focus today should be on Comex option expiry, with the 1700 USD strike having 1.4 Mio. ounces of open interest. The USD index on the other hand is approaching trend line support, which might keep USD losses limited and Gold rallies too. We’d look for Gold to find support around the 1680 level, while any move above 1700 might be limited. What surprises a bit is the muted performance of Platinum and Palladium, given the equity rally, where we can only guess that they either have catch up potential, or some producer selling is limiting the rally right now.