SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:GLD) prices are off their 16-month highs today in premarket trading as the U.S. dollar recovered from its recent lows, inspired by interest rate hike talks of some Federal Reserve officials.
Gold slips from 16-month highs
Gold Futures for June 2016 delivery slipped 0.85% to $1,280.85 during trade. Gold had breached the psychological level of $1,300 by hitting a high of $1,306 earlier this week. However, the rally came to a pause after Atlanta and San Francisco’s Federal Reserve Presidents expressed expectations of a rate hike in June. Usually, rate hikes dampen the outlook for low-yielding safe assets like gold.
Meanwhile, commodity traders will closely follow the key data lined up for the day to form their opinion about the chances of a rate hike. The ADP jobs report and service sector growth data is set to be released later today. Following which, the U.S. non-farm payrolls data, which is due to come out on Friday, will be a key number to evaluate the true direction of the U.S. economy. In other commodities, Silver Futures for May 2016 contract dipped 1.28% to $17.250.
Randgold and Agnico post upbeat results
Among gold mining stocks, Randgold Resources Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:GOLD) published an upbeat first-quarter report. The company posted earnings per share of $0.57, beating analysts’ forecasts of $0.56. The company’s revenue increased 0.3% year-on-year to $345.77 million. At the same time, Randgold maintained its full-year output target even as the first-quarter production fell 11% due to operational issues at two of the company’s African mines.
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AEM) also released its first-quarter results recently. The company’s earnings per share came in at $0.12, beating Wall Street projections by $0.09 per share. The revenues of the company came in upbeat at $490.5 million, surpassing analysts’ forecasts by $8.53 million and indicating 1.4% growth year-on-year.
