GOLD PRICE NEWS – The gold price soared nearly 1% Friday morning, touching $1,473 per ounce – another all-time high for the yellow metal. The price of gold has climbed 3.1% this week alone, surging on the back of weakness in the U.S. dollar and a broad-based move into tangible assets. Gold’s sister precious metal, silver, eclipsed the $40 level for the time in over three decades. Silver continues to outperform gold, gaining 6.3% this week.
As the gold price approaches the $1,500 per ounce level, it is set to trade at fresh record highs for the fourth consecutive day. The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), a basket of the world’s leading currencies, sank to fresh 52-week lows this morning, helping to drive not only gold higher, but also silver, copper, and oil prices. Copper is on the verge of re-taking the $4.50 per pound level, while oil climbed to a 31-month high. Silver has seen heavy inflows in recent weeks and now sits higher by 30.1% year-to-date, far north of the 3.7% rise in the gold price.
Gold and silver equities rose in pre-market activity with the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) rising 1.3% to $63.35 per share. Barrick Gold, the world’s largest gold producer, climbed 1.4% to $54.60 while Newmont Mining (NEM) advanced 1.1% to $58.92.
With the gold price breaking out to new record highs, long-time gold bull John Hathaway provided his latest outlook on the yellow metal in an interview with King World News. Hathaway, who manages the Tocqueville Gold Fund and has over 40 years of investment experience, reiterated his positive outlook on the gold price.
When asked about the $22 surge in the gold price on Wednesday, Hathaway responded that “This is a really big day because to me it was decisive action.” He noted that he “looked around for some headlines and didn’t see much, and to me it’s always best when you don’t have a knee jerk reaction to some news headline that would explain gold’s move.”
Hathaway went on to say that he feels that “a lot of people are still mystified and basically out of the game,” which from a contrarian perspective is a positive sign. While bullish gold sentiment has crept higher over the course of the week, it still remains well below levels historically associated with intermediate-term tops in the gold price.
The Tocqueville Gold Fund manager characterized the breakout to new all-time highs as “great action.” In addition, “it looks to me like there were people on the sidelines waiting for it to come in to buy it on a pullback or maybe to cover shorts on a pullback.”
Another positive sign for the gold price, according to Hathaway, was the fact that the ascent to new highs was confirmed by a significant rally in gold equities. “I just see three, four, five percent moves in some of the big cap stocks, not the little ones, and that’s a sign of money coming in either to cover shorts or to initiate positions on a breakout.” He also contended that “Gold shares have been hesitant, acting as if gold didn’t belong at $1,440, and now that gold seems to want to stay there I think people have to revise their expectations for the gold stocks.”
Looking ahead, Hathaway reiterated his gold price prediction made last month, where he asserted that if the price of gold could sustain itself above $1,440 per ounce, “that would be a game changer and we could see a very quick move of a couple hundred points (dollars) maybe to $1,600 before anybody knows what’s going on.” While “only time will tell,” Hathaway continued, “that’s what it feels like to me.”
CLIFTON STAR RESOURCES (COF.TSXV) surged 15.7% to C$4.05 per share on Thursday, making it one of the top performers in the gold sector. The Canadian-based gold company is expected to release an updated NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for its Beattie, Donchester, and Duquesne Projects this quarter. Clifton Star’s properties are located near the prolific Porcupine-Destor Deformation Zone in Quebec, Canada. The multi-million ounce gold project is a joint venture between Clifton Star and Osisko Mining (OSK.TSX), a gold producer with a market capitalization of $5.1 billion. Full Clifton Star Resources News Release.
