Gold Futures Settle Lower As Dollar Advances

Gold prices drifted lower on Wednesday and the dollar gained in strength and Treasury yields moved up amid uncertainty about the size of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in the coming months.

The dollar index, which dropped to 103.85 around mid morning, climbed to 104.47 a little before noon, and was last seen at 104.35, up 0.16% from the previous close.

Gold futures for February, which rose to a six-month high on Tuesday, ended with a loss of $7.30 at $1,815.80 an ounce.

Silver futures for March ended down $0.377 at $23.840 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $3.8425 per pound, up $0.0020 from the previous close.

In U.S. economic news today, a report released by the National Association of Realtors unexpectedly showed a continued slump in U.S. pending home sales in the month of November.

NAR said its pending home sales index tumbled by 4% to 73.9 in November after plunging by 4.7% to a revised 77.0 in October. Economists had expected pending home sales to increase by 0.6%.

European Economics News Preview: UK Revised GDP Data Due

Quarterly national accounts data from the UK is the top economic news due on Thursday.

At 2.00 am ET, the Office for National Statistics releases UK final GDP data for the third quarter. The preliminary estimates showed that the economy contracted 0.2 percent sequentially, offsetting the 0.2 percent increase a quarter ago. The statistical office is set to confirm the preliminary estimate.

In the meantime, Statistics Sweden is set to publish producer prices and retail sales for November. Sales had decreased 1.3 percent on month in October.

At 3.00 am ET, final foreign trade data is due from Hungary.

At 4.00 am ET, Italy’s Istat is scheduled to issue industrial turnover data for October. Sales had declined 1.2 percent on month in September.

Oil Futures Settle Lower On Demand Concerns

Crude oil prices dropped on Wednesday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid fears of a global recession and concerns about rising Covid-19 cases in China.

However, the decline in prices was not sharp, as Russia’s decision to ban oil sales beginning February to countries that abide by a G7 price cap imposed on December 5 helped limit the downside.

According to reports, Covid-19 cases have risen sharply in China following the country moving away from its hardline zero-Covid policy.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended down $0.57 or about 0.7% at $78.86 a barrel.

Brent crude futures settled at $83.26 a barrel today, down $1.07 or about 1.3% from the previous close.

China announced earlier this week that it will stop requiring inbound travelers to go into quarantine from early next year. Buoyed by the news, crude prices reached their highest in three weeks on Tuesday.

After China announced the re-opening of borders in a major shift of its epidemic response policies, several countries have announced safety measures like testing and medical scrutiny of passengers coming from China and other countries where the virus is prevalent.

Investors now await weekly crude inventory reports from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The API data is due later today, while the EIA’s report is due Thursday morning.

Cal-Maine Foods Inc Profit Advances In Q2, but misses estimates

Cal-Maine Foods Inc (CALM) announced a profit for its second quarter that increased from the same period last year but missed the Street estimates.

The company’s bottom line came in at $198.6 million, or $4.07 per share. This compares with $1.2 million, or $0.02 per share, in last year’s second quarter.

Analysts on average had expected the company to earn $4.24 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

The company’s revenue for the quarter rose 110.0% to $801.7 million from $381.7 million last year.

Cal-Maine Foods Inc earnings at a glance (GAAP) :

-Earnings (Q2): $198.6 Mln. vs. $1.2 Mln. last year.
-EPS (Q2): $4.07 vs. $0.02 last year.
-Analyst Estimate: $4.24
-Revenue (Q2): $801.7 Mln vs. $381.7 Mln last year.

Microstrategy Bought 2,395 BTC From November to December 2022 for $42.8M

In a recent announcement, Microstrategy stated that it bought 2,395 BTC between November 1, 2022, and December 21, 2022. Additionally, it also bought 810 BTC on December 24th.

The total purchase was approximately $42.8 million for the first transaction, and the average price was $17,871 per BTC. The second purchase was approximately $13.6 million with the average price being $16,776 per BTC.

Interestingly, the business intelligence firm also sold approximately 704 BTC for $11.8 million on December 22nd. The average price of the transaction was $16,776 per BTC. The company noted its intention to carry back the capital losses from the transaction against previous gains, as allowed under federal income tax laws.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist

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Pre-market Movers: ORIC, OCUP, TGS, MRTX, PARR…

The following are some of the stocks making big moves in Thursday’s pre-market trading (as of 06.30 A.M. ET).

In the Green

ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ORIC) is up over 46% at $4.38
Ocuphire Pharma, Inc. (OCUP) is up over 20% at $3.18
Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. (MRTX) is up over 11% at $45.89
Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (BAM) is up over 5% at $29.74
Gaotu Techedu Inc. (GOTU) is up over 4% at $4.00

In the Red

Transportadora de Gas del Sur S.A. (TGS) is down over 14% at $8.75
Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (PARR) is down over 11% at $18.86
Sky Harbour Group Corporation (SKYH) is down over 9% at $2.55
Genie Energy Ltd. (GNE) is down over 7% at $9.51
Camber Energy, Inc. (CEI) is down over 6% at $3.64
Gorilla Technology Group Inc. (GRRR) is down over 3% at $4.58