ETF Buyers Exit SPDR Gold as Fed Fears Eclipse Missile Mayhem

(Bloomberg) -- Gold investors are growing immune to the war of words between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

On Monday, a day after Trump said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was “wasting his time trying to negotiate” with North Korea over its nuclear arsenal, holders of the SPDR Gold Shares exchange-traded fund pulled the most money in more than two months. Retail investors are also wavering, with the nation's coin sales shrinking by two-thirds in the first nine months of the year from the same period in 2016, according to the U.S. Mint.

Bullion has slumped more than 6 percent since trading at the highest in a year in early September amid increasing odds that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates by year-end. JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts recommended staying short on December gold futures and “continue to caution against holding gold as a political hedge during the global rate normalization cycle.”

The prospects of higher rates has dented the appeal of non-interest-bearing bullion, which is often seen as a haven in times of economic and political turmoil. Gold futures for December delivery slipped 0.1 percent to settle at $1,274.60 at 1:38 p.m. on the Comex in New York.

Hedge funds are exiting gold futures and options at the fastest pace in more than two months. In the week ended Sept. 26, money managers cut their net-long position, or the difference between bets on a price increase and wagers on a decline, by 16 percent, the most since July 11.

To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in New York at ljavier@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net, Joe Richter, Debarati Roy