Gold surges nearly 2%, fueled by hopes of stimulus boost

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices continued climbing Thursday on safe haven demand and a weaker dollar. U.S. stocks rose with oil prices as investors digested the latest downbeat U.S. unemployment and earnings data.

CNBC---Gold prices jumped as much as 1.9% on Wednesday on expectations for more fiscal and monetary stimulus measures amid massive economic damage due to stay-at-home and business shutdown orders around the world to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus....'This is the perfect storm for gold... Perpetual buyer is buying gold because of all the global stimulus going on,' said Michael Matousek, head trader at U.S. Global Investors. 'Gold is in a bull market. You'll be hard pressed to find something else that has this type of price action and this trend going on right now so you naturally have people gravitating towards it.' Gold tends to benefit from widespread stimulus measures from central banks, as it is often seen as a hedge against inflation and currency debasement....'Technically, the gold bulls have the firm overall near-term technical advantage amid price uptrends in place on the daily, weekly and monthly charts,' Kitco Metals senior analyst Jim Wyckoff said in a note. 'Bulls' next upside price objective is to produce a close in June futures above solid resistance at $1,800.'"