The forecast by Bloomberg Intelligence in its October price outlook that gold is bound to climb back to its peak soon after reaching new all-time highs over a year ago is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Ghanaian Times says that after reaching new all-time highs over a year ago, gold is bound to climb back to its peak soon, said Bloomberg Intelligence in its October price outlook.
“It’s only been about a year since gold’s last peak, and we believe it should be a relatively short matter of time to revisit”, Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone said.
Gold has outperformed most major commodities in the past 20 years,” he said.
Gold’s new all-time high stands above $2,060 an ounce, which was hit back in August 2020. At the time of writing, December Comex gold futures were trading at $1,769.30, up 0.62 percent on the day.
Despite this year’s failure to launch, gold is still in an enduring bull market, McGlone pointed out.
“Gold, like Treasury prices, has an enduring bull market in its favor, and a correction within that trend improves its relative value,” he said.
“Gold appears too cold approaching the start of 4Q … Risks tilt toward a continuation of September’s stock-market volatility, which should favor gold in 4Q,” he said.
The newspaper says that OPEC and a Russia-led group of oil producers agreed to continue increasing production in measured steps, delegates said yesterday, deciding against opening the taps more widely, and driving U.S. crude prices to their highest levels since 2014.
West Texas Intermediate, the main U.S. oil price, rose 2.3 percent to close at $77.62 a barrel. Brent, the international gauge, added 2.5 percent to end at $81.26, its highest settling price in three years. Climbing oil prices recently had analysts and economists expecting OPEC and its Russia-led allies to lift production more significantly.
Instead, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia said the group, which calls itself OPEC+, would lift its collective output by 400,000 barrels a day in monthly installments, part of a previously agreed plan to return output to pre-COVID-19 levels.
In the U.S., oil drilling and output have been ticking higher, though they are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. The last time domestic crude prices were so high, there were roughly 1,100 more rigs drilling for oil than the 428 at work last week, according to oil-field-services firm Baker Hughes Inc.
That was before the pandemic crushed demand for transportation fuels—and before OPEC and its market allies in late 2014 launched a price war against U.S. shale drillers by turning on the taps and flooding the market with cheap crude.
Average daily crude production in the U.S. has been 6.7 percent lower than a year earlier while commercial stockpiles of crude, excluding the government’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, are 15 percent lower, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The Ghanaian Times also reports that the Dagbonwura, Yaa Naa Mahama Abubakari II, has expressed concern about the rising degradation of Ghana’s forest cover saying, “it’s a threat to our survival as a country.”
To this end, he has charged the government to intensify the fight against illegal mining, commonly referred to as ‘galamsey’ and other activities that deplete the forest.
Speaking at the Gbewaa Palace at Yendi in the Northern Region, the King of Dagbon noted that the palace was prepared to offer its full support in curbing all illegal practices against the environment.
He said these when the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor paid a courtesy call on him, as part of a week-long tour of the five regions in the northern parts of the country.
“We are currently faced with the challenge of wanton destruction of our forest cover. This is a threat to our survival as a nation.
I implore you, as the Minister, to always lead and intensify the fight against such illegalities on the environment,” the Yaa Naa stated.
Despite the enormous nature of the task, he said, fighting against threats on the environment was critical now and for the future and ought to be done with all effort.
On his part, Mr Jinapor touted the Yaa-Naa’s leadership skills and welcomed his admonitions on the need to intensify the fight against environmental degradation.
He said the government had already taken steps to deal with the “attack on the environment,” including Operation Halt to fight illegal mining.
He, however, stressed the need for support from chiefs and traditional leaders for the various interventions rolled out by the government to ensure the desired results were achieved.
GIK/APA