Gold firms as economic fears return to center stage-

6.23.22 - Retirement accounts lose trillions

Gold last traded at $1,826 an ounce. Silver at $21.03 an ounce.

News Summary: Precious metal prices rose Thursday as economic fears returned to center stage. U.S. stocks rose as market tried to recover some of the steep losses suffered in 2022, despite recession concerns.

CNBC--"Gold rose on Wednesday as renewed fears of a recession bolstered bullion's allure as a safe haven and countered pressure from a firmer dollar, while investors awaited monetary policy cues from the Federal Reserve....

World stocks fell as concerns of rising interest rates and recession persisted. Adding to this, soaring food prices pushed British consumer price inflation to a 40-year high of 9.1% last month.

'You have all the fears of rising recession risks and inflation providing quite a sound backdrop in terms of safe haven demand; not that everybody's rushing into gold, but people are clearly sticking to gold positions at the moment,' said Carsten Menke, head of Next Generation Research at Julius Baer...

Powell is scheduled to testify before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday after the central bank lifted its benchmark interest last week by 75 basis points (bps) to try to tame inflation.

If Powell clears the way for another 75 bps rate hike in July, it would likely trigger further dollar strength and rises in yields, resulting in downside for gold, said Ricardo Evangelista, a senior analyst with ActivTrades.

'Otherwise, and this is the most likely scenario, should the chairman avoid such bouts of hawkishness, gold prices are likely to remain relatively stable,' Evangelista added."