(Kitco News) – Raging risk-on sentiment continues to keep gold prices down and analysts are worried that things could get worse before they get better.
Gold prices struggled through a major sell-off this week, falling 1.4% and touching a four-month low. June Comex gold was trading flat on the day on Thursday, last seen at $1,275.20.
Better-than-expected retail sales played a significant role, revealing improved consumer sentiment, with the best results since September 2017.
U.S. retail sales rose a solid 1.6% in March, following a drop of 0.2% in February, according to the latest data from the U.S. Commerce Department. Economists were expecting to see an increase of 0.9% in the last month’s headline number.
“The retail sales number sits within the general recent tone of data and has been a bit more positive after all the signs of weakness. It certainly provides reassurance that we are a long way from that for now,” Capital Economics U.S. economist Andrew Hunter told Kitco News. “That said, consumption growth still looks to have been very weak.”
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