Column: Electric dreams turn into a nightmare for battery metals
A sector that was once racing to build new supply has been closing mines and deferring projects as low prices bite into the cost curve.
Gold price rose for the second straight Wednesday as investors weigh the economic impact of the covid-19 outbreak and its effect on commodities.
Spot gold rose 0.5% to $1,710.58 an ounce by 1 p.m. EST. Gold futures were up 1.0% to $1,716.00 per ounce on the Comex in New York. Historically, the price of gold has surged during times of crisis, a sentiment that has been echoed by commodity analysts.
Jeff Currie, global head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, is still bullish on gold as there remains a high level of uncertainty over how the pandemic will ultimately affect the economy.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Currie said gold is the favorite commodity to trade this year, citing the worldwide currency debasement effects and an increase in construction activities as reasons to own “capital goods type commodities.”
“One thing that our clients are looking at is gold … clients recognize that should things go completely wrong and inflation starts to pick up again, it may be an asset that gives them insurance,” Mark Haefele, chief investment officer of UBS Global Wealth Management, told Bloomberg in an earlier interview.
So far this year, the gold price has gone up by over 12% on the back of a surge in global investment demand.
Lockdowns worldwide have also caused logistics issues for transporting the metal, sending premiums paid on Comex gold futures to as high as $70 an ounce.
