Gold Drops a Fifth Day as Bond Yield Rally Delivers ‘Fatal Blow’

Gold declined for a fifth straight day, putting the haven on course for the longest losing run in almost a year, as Treasury yields surged on expectations that the economy is recovering from the pandemic’s impact.

Progress on the coronavirus vaccine front and the slowing pace of infections is driving optimism over global growth, boosting yields and weighing on demand for non-interest-bearing bullion, which has sunk more than 5% this year. Further losses may be on the horizon after bullion’s 50-day moving average retreated below its 200-day counterpart, a so-called death cross pattern.

“A runaway rally in global bond yields has delivered a fatal blow to gold,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. “Yields are rising on reflation bets, and that is triggering an unwind of many safe-haven trades.”

Spot gold fell as much as 0.4% to $1,786.88 an ounce, and traded at $1,791.04 by 7:51 a.m. in Singapore. That follows Tuesday’s 1.3% drop, and should prices end lower on Wednesday that would be the worst run since last March.

In other metals, silver and palladium retreated along with platinum, which hit the highest intraday level since 2014 on Tuesday.

“The dollar rebound might not be over if global bond yields continue to rally,” said Oanda’s Moya. “And that could be the bearish catalyst that sends gold down to the $1,750 level.”