Gold prices rose in European trade, recouping after hefty losses yesterday, as US yields slow down ahead of important statements by Fed officials. 

Gold Prices

Gold rose 0.6% to $1,865 an ounce, after tumbling 1.55% yesterday, as the dollar index hits 20-year highs. 

US Bonds 

US 10-year treasury yields fell 1.9% today away from four-year highs at 3.203% on active profit-taking, as bets on a massive June rate hike wane.

Fed officials have hinted that a 75 basis points hike in June is unlikely, with investors awaiting crucial inflation data tomorrow. 

Estimates 

Gold continues to face a bearish trend overall as the Fed is expected to tighten the policy and push US treasury yields higher throughout the year.

The SPDR

Gold holdings at the SPDR fell 6.1 tones yesterday to a total of 1,075 tones, the lowest since March 17.

Oil futures tilted lower in Asian trade, with US crude off late March highs, while Brent declined from April 19 highs, as the dollar index declined for the first session in four away from December 2002 highs. 

Markets are pricing in a drop in Chinese demand for oil as Covid 19 infections spread and authorities lock up major cities.

As of 06:22 GMT, US crude futures due in May fell 0.59% to $102.05 a barrel, while Brent July futures fell 0.62% to $104.91 a barrel, as the dollar index slipped 0.08% to 103.58.

Chinese authorities is clamping down heavily on any opposition to its zero-covid harsh policies against the pandemic, in order to contain the crisis quickly and return to solid growth.

China's central bank has issued statements asserting full support of the economy to provide enough liquidity and underpin small businesses. 

Latest World Health Organization data showed Covid 19 infections up at 515.19 million, with the global death toll standing at 6.25 million. 

On the Ukrainian front, Russian officials said peace talks haven't stopped, but are ongoing from afar, with Russian President Putin expressing confidence in the success of the operation in Ukraine.

Baker Hughes data showed US oil rigs rose by 5 rigs to 557 rigs, the highest since March 2020, while US output steadied at 11.9 million barrels.

US output is down 1.2 million bpd or 10% from a record high at 13.1 million bpd scaled in March 2020, while hitting a record low in August 2020 at 9.7 million bpd.

Copper prices declined on Monday, hitting five-month lows at the London Exchange.

That comes amid mounting pressures on risk assets in the markets, such as stocks and industrial metals.

US Dollar

The major reason behind copper's decline today is dollar's strength, hitting 20-year highs at 103.9, with a 0.3% profit today.

Dollar's profits hurt metals as they become more expensive to holders of other currencies.

Last week, the Fed hiked rates by 50 basis points to under 1%, the largest increase since 2000.

China

Another major reason behind copper's decline is weakening demand from China, as Covid 19 infections continue to spread.

Copper July futures fell 2.4% to $4.16 a pound as of 14:46 GMT.

Copper three-month futures declined 0.7% to $9,346 a tone after hitting December lows.

US stock indices fell on Monday, carrying  out the hefty losses sustained last week.

Wall Street is under constant concerns about inflation and estimates about rapid policy tightening by the Federal Reserve this year.

The Fed already decided to hike interest rates by 50 basis points last week to just under 1% to control the runaway inflation, which hit four-decade highs.

Dow Jones declined 1.6% as of 14:15 GMT to 32,398, while S&P 500 shed 2.2% to 4,030, while NASDAQ tumbled 3.1%  to 11,764.