Oil dips lower, gold higher on inflation

Oil lower as OPEC+ sticks to August target

Oil prices are modestly lower on Thursday, further paring recent gains following yesterday’s reversal. As expected, OPEC+ stuck to its planned 648,000 barrel increase in August and refrained from any decision beyond then which could add an element of uncertainty to future targets, particularly given recent reports that even Saudi Arabia and UAE are running near capacity.

The global economic uncertainty doesn’t make planning ahead any easier, either. The prospect of a recession has created more two-way price action in recent weeks, preventing any unsustainable surges in the price of crude as China reopened and the OPEC+ deficit increased. ​

Gold slightly buoyed by inflation data

Gold has been trending lower over the last couple of weeks but remains in its early summer range between USD 1,800 and USD 1,870. It’s really struggled for direction over the last couple of months despite the volatility in the broader financial markets. It has been like a deer in the headlights, unable to process and respond to the wicked combination of higher inflation, faster monetary tightening and recession fears.

It received a boost from the slightly softer PCE reading from the US, a rare bit of good news when it comes to inflation data. It’s not exactly a massive win, especially when paired with weak spending but it could be worse. Yields fell a little after the data, enabling gold to get back into positive territory for a while.

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