Choppy day on Wall Street; eyes on Trump bill’s pains

Wall Street ended mixed after a choppy session on Wednesday as investors focused on President Donald J. Trump’s struggle to push through a healthcare bill and snapped up stocks after a steep drop the day before.

NEW YORK/LONDON — Gold climbed to a three-week high on Wednesday as the dollar fell to seven-week lows and bond yields sank on uncertainty over the economic policies of US President Donald Trump.

Spot gold was up 0.40% at $ 1,249.98 an ounce by 2:43 p.m. EDT (1843 GMT), close to the session high of $1,251.26, the highest since Feb. 28.

US gold futures settled up 0.30% at $1,249.70.

Trump and Republican congressional leaders appeared to be losing the battle to get enough support to pass their Obamacare rollback bill. Mark Meadows, who heads the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said his group had more than enough members to stop the bill from passing. The current House Republican rollback plan is scheduled for a floor vote on Thursday.

“I think that’s giving the market more clarity that it’s probably not going to be passed, and they’re reacting to that,” said Ryan McKay, associate commodities strategist for TD Securities in Toronto.

“This could keep the Fed more measured regarding the pace of rate hikes, which has seen yields, US dollar, and equities fall off while gold rallies.”

A lack of concrete policy from the Trump administration is increasing gold’s attraction as a safe haven investment, analysts and traders said.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold- backed exchange- traded fund, rose 0.50% to 834.40 tons on Tuesday after three sessions of outflows.

The gold market shrugged off what police called a terrorist incident in London.

In other precious metals, spot silver turned up 0.06% at $ 17.51 an ounce, while platinum fell 0.80% at $959.

Palladium eased by 0.06% to $786.50 after hitting $794.30, its highest since Feb. 17. —