Metals – Gold hits fresh record highs Gold's upward rally continues with spot prices reaching a record high of US$2,265.73/oz yesterday following inflation data from the US late last week. However, stronger-than-expected US factory data for March dampened the rally in gold as the trading session progressed. The unexpected expansion in factory activity would have called into question the market’s expectation for the Fed to start cutting rates in June. We are likely to see further volatility in gold this week, particularly with the US jobs report scheduled for later this week. Gold remains in overbought territory and so there is certainly the potential for a pullback in the short term, particularly if we get a strong jobs report on Friday. Meanwhile, ETF holdings in gold continue to not align with price action. ETF holdings continue to decline with them standing at around 82moz, down from 85.6moz at the start of the year. Over the same time period, spot gold prices are up around 9%. There is plenty of room for investors to buy the gold market, but maybe we need to wait for the Fed to actually start cutting rates before investors jump fully into the market.