The rally in gold paused Wednesday, with stocks jumping instead after former Vice President Joe Biden notched big primary wins over Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Gold futures for April delivery on New York’s COMEX settled down $1.40, or 0.08%, at $1,643 per ounce.
Spot gold, which tracks live trades in bullion, was at $1,638.15, down $1.32, or 0.08%.
Gold prices jumped as much as 3% on Tuesday after an emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve and worry that U.S. cases from the coronavirus had crossed the triple-digit mark drove demand for the safe haven.
Analysts had expected the precious metal’s upward charge to continue on Wednesday.
But Wall Street instead rallied after Biden won nine of the 14 U.S. states that voted on Super Tuesday to pick a Democratic challenger to Republican President Donald Trump in the November elections. Many investors fear a Sanders presidency would be highly disruptive to Wall Street given his “Feel The Bern” campaign that vows to take aim at billionaires and their influence on government and eliminate private health insurance.
“The gold rally is taking a break as Wall Street is back up,” Ed Moya, analyst at OANDA, said, referring to the rebound in U.S. stocks, which fell about 2% on Tuesday. “One of the biggest risks to the outlook for U.S. stocks was having Bernie Sanders — and all his regulatory threats on tech and healthcare reform win the presidency — but last night showed many Democrats are ready to go all-in with Biden.”
