Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Gold is trading slightly down from its Friday spot price close of $1,227.90, as investors digest the outcome of the recently-decided French presidential election.
The French overwhelmingly rejected the prospect of a far-right leader at the helm, instead putting centrist Emmanuel Macron, the country’s youngest-ever president at 39, into the Elysee Palace. Projections from early counts on Sunday had Macron taking 65.1% of the votes to Marine Le Pen’s 34.9%.
However the Guardian noted the results showed both candidates to be deeply unpopular, with turnout the lowest in more than 40 years, almost one-third of voters choosing neither Macron nor Le Pen, 12 million abstaining and 4.2 million spoiling their ballots.
The effect on gold, which functions as a safe haven during political or economic turmoil, was predictable. After an hour of trading on Sunday, the spot price was down $1.10, or 0.09%.
While LePen campaigned to pull France out of the European monetary union and return to the franc, Macron has promised to strengthen France’s role inside the EU. His proposed reforms include a common budget for the 19 euro-zone countries, a euro-zone finance minister and a common defense force – all of which have been rejected by Germany before, according to a report in The Globe and Mail explaining what could happen after the election.
The spot price of silver on Sunday was up by 5 cents, to $16.35 an ounce, about an hour into the trading session.
