NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar strengthened on Wednesday as the market put aside trade tension fears and focussed on the Labor Department’s expectation-beating inflation report, which increased prospects that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates another two times this year.Against the Japanese yen, the dollar broke through the psychologically significant barrier of 112 yen for...Read More

Today's Wall Street Journal contains a couple of charts that illustrate a relationship that's not getting much media attention these days: The fact that tightening labor markets are forcing companies to raise wages, in the process squeezing their own profit margins. Historically this margin compression has been either a cause of or contributor to cyclical turning points — in other words it c...Read More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Justice Department officials on Wednesday announced the establishment of an anti-fraud task force intended to deter fraud and coordinate investigations to avoid “piling on,” where multiple agencies probe the same alleged misconduct.The task force brings together the Justice Department and U.S. attorneys offices, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consum...Read More

Andrew OsbornMOSCOW (Reuters) - For U.S. President Donald Trump, a summit with Vladimir Putin risks a political backlash at home and abroad. For the Russian president, however, the fact the summit is even happening is already a big geopolitical win.Despite Russia’s semi-pariah status among some Americans and U.S. allies, the Kremlin has long been trying to arrange a summit, betting that Puti...Read More

CloseGain/LossGold $1242.20-$13.30Silver$15.80-$0.26XAU80.98-3.06%HUI174.53-2.88%GDM613.40-2.55%JSE Gold1072.36-5.43USD94.74+0.60Euro116.75-0.72Yen89.27-0.65Oil$70.38-$3.7310-Year2.840%-0.023T-Bond145.46875+0.46875Dow24700.45-0.88%Nasdaq7716.61-0.55%S&P2774.02-0.71% The Metals: Gold dropped throughout most of world trade and ended near its last-minute low of $1242.00 with a loss of 1.06%....Read More

- World Cup weighs nearly 200 ounces (6.17 kilos) and is 18 Karat or 75% pure gold- World Cup's value is just ?140,000 at today's depressed prices- 30% less than England's Harry Kane's weekly wage of ?200,000- World Cup fever takes over England ahead of semi final tonight- World Cup's true value is priceless to players and nationsThe World Cup is worth at today's gold prices a measly ?140,000 (...Read More

Gold can fall first and then rise. Investors will prefer to sit on cash or invest in a safer bond market till a clear picture on the impact of the USA induced trade war is there. Anyways equities offer a much better return than gold in the short term. Risk is much higher in stocks than gold but returns outweigh risk. I again repeat that gold investment is not for a few weeks to a quarter. Gold h...Read More

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley (MS.N) said on Wednesday that Robert Perry, manager for the firm’s Beverly Hills, California, wealth management office, has left the firm.Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Christine Jockle confirmed Perry left the firm but declined to comment further. Attempts to reach Perry at his office by phone and email were unsuccessful.Perry’s departure, reported on T...Read More

Jeff Mason, Sabine Siebold, Robin EmmottBRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump accused Germany on Wednesday of being a “captive” of Russia due to its energy reliance in a startling outburst before a NATO summit where he pressed allies to more than double spending on their own defense.Having lambasted NATO members for letting U.S. taxpayers pay to keep them safe from Russia by...Read More

Turkish steel mills declined to make any bookings of deep-sea scrap cargo on Wednesday July 11 but the market widely expects them to purchase more material for August.The mills had returned to the deep-sea scrap markets, buying four cargoes on July 6 and Tuesday July 10 - they paid $343-348 per tonne cfr for USA-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20).More...Read More

Madsen Project headframe, mill and tailings facility near Red Lake, Ontario. Source: Pure Gold Mining Inc.Pure Gold Mining Inc. [PGM-TSXV; LRTNF-OTC] has extended the Madsen decline by 87 metres and commenced test mining within the first of two planned stopes from the McVeigh zone. The 100%-owned Madsen Gold Project is located 16 km west of Red Lake northern Ontario.Mining through 13 metres of n...Read More

Has a trade war started? The stock market doesn't suggest that a full-scale trade fight between China and the U.S. has erupted, but a tweet from Ray Dalio, founder of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, implies otherwise. Friday afternoon, Dalio tweeted: "Today is the first day of the war with China." Today is the first day of the war with China.— Ray Dalio (@RayDalio) July 6, 2018 The tweet...Read More

Dyke 1 pegmatite exposed in an historic trench on the Zoro lithium property in Manitoba. Source: Far Resources Ltd.Far Resources Ltd. [FAT-CSE; FRRSF-OTC; F0R-FSE] has received the first ever resource estimate for Dyke 1 on its Zoro lithium property located in mining friendly Manitoba. Dyke 1 contains an inferred resource of 1,074,567 tonnes grading 0.91% Li2O, 182 ppm beryllium, 198 ppm cesium, 5...Read More

(Reuters) - The United States signed an agreement with ZTE Corp (000063.SZ) that paves the way for the Chinese tech company to resume operations after a nearly three-month old ban on doing business with American suppliers, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday.The ban on China’s No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker will be removed once the company deposits $400 million in an esc...Read More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved a non-binding motion on Wednesday that would give Congress a role in President Donald Trump's decisions to impose tariffs for national security reasons.As voting continued, 83 senators approved and 11 opposed the non-binding measure, part of an ongoing effort led by some of Trump's fellow Republicans who support free trade to push back...Read More

Comex copper prices set a new low this morning on July 11 in the US, with President Donald Trump threatening an additional $200 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods.Copper for September settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange tumbled 8.45 cents or 3% to $2.7550 per lb. Continued uncertainty surrounding trade relations between the United States and China have added...Read More

* U.S. set to slap 10 pct tariffs on $200 bln of Chinesegoods * SPDR gold holdings fell 0.22 percent on Tuesday * Palladium falls to two-week low (Updates prices; adds comment, second byline, NEW YORK todateline)By Renita D. Young and Maytaal AngelNEW YORK/LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - Gold prices slipped onWednesday as U.S. threat of tariffs on an additional $200billion of Chinese goods pushed safe...Read More

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European Central Bank supervisors will give euro zone banks extra time to set cash aside against their bad loans if their pile of soured debt is particularly high, the ECB said on Wednesday.Under the new and long-awaited guidelines, the ECB’s Single Supervisory Mechanism will take “bank-specific supervisory expectations” for the provision of non-performing l...Read More

An escalation in the United States' trade war with China, with another $200 billion of Chinese goods now potentially facing tariffs, has rattled base metals prices during early trading on Wednesday July 11. Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were down across the board by an average of 2.8%, led by a 4.1% decline in zinc. Three-month copper was down by 3.5% at $6,124 per to...Read More

(Kitco News) - Gold prices are trading moderately lower and have hit theirdaily lows in late-morning action Wednesday. The raw commodity sector,including the precious metals, is getting hit hard today by new trade sanctionsthe U.S. has imposed on China. Gold bulls continue to by stymiedby the fact their metal is trading like a raw commodity instead of a safe-havenstore of value. Augustgold was las...Read More