Trump Win Sends Gold to Busiest-Ever Trading Day as Volume Jumps

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s victory is also a win for gold brokers.

Gold had its heaviest-ever trading day as investors rushed to havens on concern Trump’s presidency will upend decades of U.S. economic and foreign policy. More than 780,000 futures changed hands by 2:30 p.m. in New York, surpassing the volume on June 24 after Britain decided to leave the European Union, based on data using the most-active Comex contract.

That’s more than four times the 100-day average volume at this point in the trading day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The previous volume record was on April 15, 2013, when gold had its biggest slump in three decades after entering a bear market three days earlier.

Gold futures for December delivery slipped 0.1 percent to settle at $1,273.50 an ounce at 1:51 p.m. on the Comex in New York, after surging as much as 5 percent earlier Wednesday.

Brokers will earn more commission from more people wanting to trade bullion and profit from increased volatility. BullionVault, an online trading service, said client activity in the three hours to 6 a.m. London time exceeded the amount traded on Tuesday. Buying outweighed selling by three-to-one, according to an e-mail from Adrian Ash, the head of research.

“Gold is where all the action is at the moment,” Bernard Sin, head of precious metals trading at MKS (Switzerland) SA, said by phone from Geneva. “It looks like hot money coming in, people are trying to make money on the move up in gold.”

In a result that stunned political pundits, polling companies and financial markets, Trump was elected on pledges that included reneging on global trade deals that he says have cost American jobs.

A Trump presidency could send bullion to $1,395 an ounce, according to more than 20 analysts and traders surveyed by Bloomberg before the vote.

--With assistance from Luzi Ann Javier To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net, Eddie van der Walt in London at evanderwalt@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Joe Richter