The yellow metal records strong gains exceeding 1%, with the opening of the European markets for the opening session of the year today, Tuesday, January 3, 2023, benefiting from the rising fears of global markets about the slowdown in the global economy in the current year, amid anticipation for the minutes of the US Federal Reserve meeting for the month of December at the end of the week, as gold trades at 1843 levels Dollar an ounce, up by 1.10%, at its highest level in six months.

Gold maintains being one of the most important hedging tools in the world and a safe haven against inflation and economic concerns, as it is estimated that the year 2023 may witness a slowdown in the growth of the global economy.

The latest reports issued by the World Gold Council indicated that the official financial institutions in the world bought about 673 tons, while purchases in the third quarter amounted to an estimated 400 tons, the largest quarterly purchases since the year 2000, which is much more than what was officially announced by central banks.

On a related note, gold has been receiving support since the beginning of last December, and it continues so far from changing the expectations of the markets and the US Federal Reserve for future interest rate expectations, as the Federal Reserve began to slow down the pace of the strong hike in interest rates with continued expectations that the Fed will continue to slow the rate of hike in the first quarter of this year.

During the current week’s sessions, the markets are looking forward to the US labor market figures for the month of December, as expectations indicate that the US economy will add about 200,000 jobs, while investors will follow the minutes of the US Federal Reserve meeting on Thursday, as the markets will monitor any directions from the bank’s members for the future of US interest rates and what is the next step after a strong series of hikes. interest rates last year.

Silver, in turn, is trading at an increase of 1.54%, at levels of $24.36 an ounce, after recording annual gains estimated at 2% in 2022.

Platinum opens the first sessions of the year, down by about 0.20%, at $1067 levels, while palladium declines by about 0.10%, trading at $1.792 levels.