The PRICE of GOLD extended its rebound from the Trump Slump on Tuesday, touching 1-week highs as the Kremlin's President Putin threatened nuclear retailiation against Ukraine's Western supporters after Kyiv began using long-range US missiles to attack targets deep inside Russia. 

 

Peaking $100 above last week's 2-month low of $2537 per Troy ounce, the price of gold in Dollar terms then eased $10 lower as New York's S&P500 index opened with a small 0.2% rise.

 

Global stock markets in contrast fell for the 5th time in 6 sessions on the MSCI World Index, edging back towards Friday's 1-week low while Western government bond prices rose, edging longer-term borrowing costs lower amid news of Ukraine's missile strikes on Russia.

 

With Europe's dependence on Russian energy supplies still unclear almost 3 years after sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine began, fuel prices extended their recent gains as winter hit the region, with crude oil edging up to new November highs – 3.6% above last week's test of the 2-month floor in local benchmark Brent – while natural gas futures rose to the highest in 11 months on derivatives exchange ICE's Dutch TTF December 2024 contract, adding 18.0% so far this month.

 

US defense stocks meantime outpaced the wider equity market, adding 0.5% to the share price of military manufacturers Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Raytheon (NYSE: RTX) and Boeing (NYSE: BA).

 

"Russia will now view any attack by a non-nuclear country supported by a nuclear power as a joint attack," says Moscow's state-run Tass news agency, quoting today's new version of the Kremlin's 'nuclear doctrine'.

 

Last approved in June 2020, the document was suddenly updated overnight due to "the realities of the modern day" after outgoing US President Joe Biden approved the use by Ukraine of American-made ATACMS missiles to hit strike Russian military bases up to 250 kilometers across the border.

 

"The burgeoning trade in illicit gold is funding the Russian war in Ukraine, allowing the affiliates of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State to refinance, and generating profits for armed groups and organised crime on a global scale," says a new report from the formal mining-industry's World Gold Council.

 

"The [Russian mercenary] Wagner group has been one of the greatest beneficiaries. Estimates suggest it earned more than US$2.5 billion from illicit gold mining since the [2022] invasion of Ukraine,  which has been funnelled back into the Russian war machine."

 

Like gold prices, silver today rallied to 1-week highs against the rising US Dollar, reaching $31.50 per Troy ounce before dropping back 30 cents.

 

The UK gold price in Pounds per ounce jumped to £2087 and Euro gold very nearly touched €2500 for the first time since Monday last week.