The price of gold continued its streak as global uncertainty and U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies and comments continued to befuddle markets.
“Gold tends to work when the market isn’t working,” said John Stephenson, president and CEO of Stephenson & Co.
April bullion jumped $3.40 to US$1,239.50 an ounce, marking five straight days of gains totalling US$31.20.
The precious metal has been performing well, rising well above a mid-December low of US$1,129.80 an ounce, as investors turn to it as a safe haven.
On Bay Street, the gold sector led advancers on the S&P/TSX composite index, which gained 55.24 points to 15,554.04.
In New York, markets were mostly muted.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 35.95 points to 20,054.34, while the S&P 500 inched higher with an uptick of 1.59 points to 2,294.67. The Nasdaq composite reached another record high of 5,682.45, up 8.23 points.
“I think the market just doesn’t know what to think,” said Stephenson of stock indices that haven’t seen much movement one way or another in recent days, following a post-presidential-election surge.
He described the market’s mood this week as “weird,” pointing out there’s not much economic data to react to and that the earnings season for U.S. companies is roughly three-quarters finished with no huge news so far. Meanwhile, Trump’s rhetoric and policies continue to create confusion.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty, fear and concern that maybe his pro-business agenda is very much secondary,” Stephenson said.
And it’s not clear when or if Trump will lower taxes and reduce regulations for businesses as he promised during the election campaign.
“In fact, what we’re hearing about is Ivanka Trump’s, you know, crappy clothing line being dropped by Nordstrom’s. We’re hearing about an immigration ban from seven countries,” Stephenson said. “And so, we’re hearing about things that aren’t very germane to business.”
Global events, like France’s upcoming presidential election, are adding to the incertitude.
If Marine Le Pen, president of the National Front, wins the election the market will react very negatively, said Stephenson.
The leader of the far-right party, who has made her anti-immigrant and anti-European stance clear, makes bolder statements than Trump, he said.
As the markets pause, the U.S. dollar has been under pressure as some believe the greenback’s strengthened too much lately.
That was good news for the loonie Wednesday, which snapped its three-day fall, rising 0.07 of a U.S. cent to US76.02¢.
Elsewhere in commodities, the March crude oil contract rose US17¢ to US$52.34 per barrel, March copper gained about US3.5¢ to around US$2.67 a pound, and March natural gas was relatively unchanged at about US$3.13 per mmBTU.