Strengths
The best performing metal this week was palladium, up 3.52 percent as CPM Group noted that the price could climb to $1,800 on supply constraints. Gold traders and analysts switched from bullish to mostly neutral or bearish on the yellow metal this week, according to the weekly Bloomberg survey.
Turkey’s gold reserves reversed this week by rising $227 million from the previous week. The central bank’s holdings are now worth $20.9 billion as of April 12, according to official figures. Kazakhstan also increased its gold holdings to 11.63 million ounces in March, up from 11.46 million in February. Mexico, too, raised gold reserves by 3.86 million ounces last month.
Bloomberg’s Cormac Mullen writes that currency

Gold traders appear excited about gold again as stocks are on pace for their worst year since 2008, and their worst December since 1931.
Bullish bets on the yellow metal outnumbered bearish ones for the week ended December 11, resulting in the first instance of net positive contracts since July, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data.
As many of you know, December has historically been a strong month for stocks. But fears of a slowdown in global growth, rising interest rates and the U.S.-China trade war have prompted many investors to pare down their stocks in favor of gold, often perceived as a safe haven in times of economic and financial instability.
Now, as we head into 2019, gold “is