Investors are going to focus on testimony by the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin later in the day for hints on more U.S. stimulus
Saudi Arabia increased budget spending sharply for many years until the oil bull run ended in 2014. This led to a steep rise in the country's fiscal break-even oil price.
The economy will remain sick in the medium term in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic, giving gold the wings. Put axiomatically, the worse it is for the economy, the better for gold.
Even as the May contract US crude went for trade in low negative territory, the June contract saw trade in the normal range, rising $1.72 cents (8.4 percent), to $22.15 a barrel.