The dollar and oil are rising…so what about gold?

United States – The dollar rose yesterday, Wednesday, and oil prices increased, while gold prices stabilized in the markets, following the issuance of a report on inflation in the United States that showed an increase in consumer prices during last March.

Consumer prices in the United States rose more than expected last March, amid increasing gasoline costs and home rents, which led financial markets to expect that the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) would postpone cutting interest rates until next September.

The strong consumer price readings for the third month in a row – announced by the Labor Department on Wednesday – came on the heels of news last week that job growth accelerated last month, with the unemployment rate falling to 3.8% from 3.9% last February.

The Ministry of Labor Statistics Office stated that the consumer price index rose 0.4% on a monthly basis after rising by the same percentage last February.

The dollar index – which measures the value of the US currency against 6 other currencies – rose by 1.1% to 105.28 points.

• As for Japan, no new warnings were issued while the yen increased to about 153 to the dollar.
• In the latest trading, the New Zealand dollar fell 1.04% to 0.5974 against the dollar after briefly jumping to the highest level in 3 weeks at 0.60775 against the dollar, after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand stabilized interest rates as expected, but warned of continued inflation.
• The euro fell by 0.16% to $1.0735 after jumping to its highest level in 3 weeks against the dollar yesterday, Tuesday, as the date of the European Central Bank meeting approaches tomorrow, Thursday.

The dollar rose against other major currencies, but lost slightly during morning trading

Oil prices rose – today, Wednesday – after declining for two consecutive days, as the faltering ceasefire talks in Gaza led to renewed uncertainty about the security of supplies from the Middle East, which erased the impact of a larger-than-expected increase in US crude inventories.

Brent crude rose 0.1% to $89.5 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $85.3, at the time of writing the report.

The prices of the two standard crude oils fell by about 1.7% at the end of last week, despite the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East resulting from the possibility of the Israeli war in Gaza continuing for a longer period and drawing more countries into the conflict.

Gold prices stabilized today, Wednesday, near a record high level recorded in the last session, with the “safe haven” benefiting from concerns associated with a combination of looming inflation risks and ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Gold prices in spot transactions lost slightly to settle at $2,338.6 per ounce – at the time of writing the report – after rising to a record level of $2,365.09 yesterday, Tuesday.

US gold futures also fell 0.2% to $2,356.7.