25 January 2017

After several days of modest price appreciation, gold took a breather on Tuesday, knocked back by a round of profit-taking and a slightly firmer dollar. Meanwhile, back in Washington President Trump was having another busy day on Tuesday, convening more meetings, this time with auto executive and also signing an executive order to move forward with the construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access oil pipelines. From what we read, it not yet clear how quickly these orders will move along, as there are lots of moving parts, including yet another environmental study that the Army Corps of Engineers may want to conduct. Moreover, Trump hinted that the pipeline contract may have to be renegotiated and even said at one point during his campaign that the US government may want some of the profits. Environmental activists and Native Americans broadly oppose the Keystone pipeline in particular and campaigned against it for more than seven years. In the last hour, Trump also signed executive orders restricting immigration for refugees into the US and some visa holders from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. (Interestingly, Saudi Arabia was exempt).