CHARTS: EV battery metals bill sets new low as lithium, nickel, cobalt price slump continues
The raw materials bill for the average EV is now down to $510 compared to a peak of more than $1,900 at the beginning of last year.
Gold fluctuated as investors weighed the outlook for the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy tightening path after data continued to give a mixed picture of the US economy.
Investors are assessing how aggressively the Fed can continue hiking rates in the face of mounting risks to growth. Economic activity weakened from the US to Europe and Asia, reinforcing concerns that soaring prices and Russia’s war in Ukraine will tip the world into a recession. Those concerns helped bullion snap six straight days of declines on Tuesday.
The annual gathering of central bankers at Jackson Hole later this week and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Friday should provide some clues on the US central bank’s tightening path.
“Asymmetric risks are clearly building for a bullish setup/reversal after Jackson Hole and into September for precious metals,” Nicky Shiels, head of metals strategy at MKS PAMP SA, wrote in a note. Powell “may actually be mildly hawkish but Fed-sensitive assets like gold rallies, given how offside everything has become.”
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Economist Jan Hatzius said he anticipates Powell will lay out a case for slower interest-rate increases at Jackson Hole. Still, Fed Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said “it’s very clear” the US central bank has to tighten monetary policy to bring inflation back under control.
Spot gold edged up 0.2% to $1,750.82 an ounce as of 11:48 a.m. in New York, adding to Tuesday’s 0.7% increase. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%. Palladium gained, while silver and platinum declined.
(By Ranjeetha Pakiam and Eddie Spence, with assistance from Swansy Afonso and Yvonne Yue Li)
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