Gold heads for biggest weekly gain since July on stimulus hopes

President Donald Trump questioned the credibility of the US election, complaining that public polls had overstated Joe Biden’s lead in many battleground states and the ongoing count of mail-in votes was eroding his lead in Pennsylvania and Georgia. Trump gave a statement to reporters at the White House on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell opened the door to a possible shift in the central bank’s bond purchases in coming months, saying that more fiscal and monetary support are needed as rising Covid-19 infections cloud the outlook for the economic recovery. The Fed kept interest rates near zero and held bond purchases at a $120-billion monthly pace at its meeting ending Thursday. The US non-farm payrolls report is due Friday.

Spot gold traded 0.2% lower at $1 946.58 an ounce at 8:21 a.m. in Singapore. Prices surged as much as 2.6% on Thursday to the highest level since September 21, and are up 3.5% this week, the most since the five days ended July 31. Silver fell 0.5%, platinum dropped 0.2%, and palladium declined 0.3%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was steady near the lowest since 2018.