12th September 2017

Gold tumbled on Monday by roughly $20/ounce, as sharp relief rallies set in over both US equities and the dollar in view of what transpired in Florida over the weekend. In this regard, Hurricane IRMA, while knocking power out to 7 million people and flooding sections of several cities, nonetheless fell short of the more dire predictions bandied about prior to its making landfall. Separately, the fact that North Korea did not conduct a missile test over the weekend (one that marked the 69th anniversary of its founding) also contributed to gold’s selloff, as here too, a worst case scenario was averted. However, it remains to be seen how the North Koreans will respond to the sanctions once they get formerly approved in a few hours time. Although the package contains measures that are far less punitive than what was envisioned earlier, Pyongyang nevertheless stated that the US will pay a “price” if it moves forward with this resolution. (As we went out with this note, the resolution was formally approved).