Gold reportedly rose on Friday morning in Asia. That's because investors are cautiously optimistic about the latest U.S. stimulus measures. Another factor is that Pfizer Inc is slashing the number of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to be launched in the future.
According to the market data, Gold Futures rose as much as 0.26% to $1,845.80. The situation was triggered by investors' slowly shifting to safe-haven yellow metals. Recently, recent statements from Pfizer have indeed made this commodity change so far.
Pfizer said on Thursday that it would only produce 50 million doses of the BNT162b2 coronavirus vaccine developed in co-with BioNTech after reports of supply chain problems emerged. The number of doses was also down from the previous target of 100 million doses.
Stimulus Package Begins to Show Progress
The $908 billion stimulus package proposed by various parties is slowly gaining momentum in the U.S. Congress on Thursday. Democrats and Republicans have a deadline of December 11 to reach a consensus from the meeting. It means only a week from now.
It is especially about the package of price tag and preventing government closures. America continues to fight the second wave of severe COVID-19 cases. Hospitalizations in the U.S. even reached 100,000. A few steps were then taken to control the pandemic.
One of those steps was stated by California governor Gavin Newson who warned that stay-at-home orders or lockdowns could be enforced in every state. However, this is except for the San Francisco Bay area, on weekends.
Data released on Thursday also shows the economic impact of COVID-19. 712,000 unemployment claims were reported in the past week. This means it is down from an estimated 775,000 claims and the previous week's claim of 787,000, but still high.
U.S. Dollar Also Rises
Labor market data, including manufacturing payrolls and non-farm payrolls, is due at a later date. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank will set up meetings to make their respective policies over the next week.
Investors continue to speculate on further declines in the currency. On the other hand, the Euro was benefiting from the weakening US dollar and seemingly closing at its best value in a month this week. The euro held above $1.21.
This is the first time since spring 2018. There is a shadow of the fact that there is only one more week before the European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to deliver more policy on stimulus. This was conveyed by Rabobank strategist Jane Foley some time ago.
There is no doubt that the actions of the U.S. Federal Reserve have made the value of the dollar weaken since the spring of this year. On the market, the USD Index rose slightly by 0.03% to 90.688. The index has fallen about 12% from a three-year high of 102,990 in March.
Investors Still Not Heading to Safe Heaven
The growing numbers of COVID-19 cases and lockdowns in the U.S. have failed to turn investors into safe-haven assets. Investors chose to continue betting on more government support. For example, is through further monetary easing or fiscal spending. That becomes an interesting fact.
The $908 billion COVID-19 aid package drew attention in Congress on Thursday. On the other hand, the Fed is widely expected to expand its bond-buying program. Both the Fed and ECB will reschedule meetings to discuss their respective policies over the next week.
For information, the USD/JPY pair fell slightly by 0.02% to 103.81. The euro is also heading for its best week in six months against the yen. However, the Japanese currency rose slightly against a weaker dollar during the previous session. The AUD/USD pair reported a thin fall too.
