2021.11.3011:19:00UTC+00Gold Futures Moving Higher As Equities, Dollar Drop

Gold prices climbed higher Tuesday morning with investors seeking the safe-haven asset following a sell-off in global equity markets and a weak U.S. dollar.

Global stocks are sliding amid rising concerns about the new variant of the coronavirus after Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel expressed apprehensions about the effectiveness of existing vaccines against the newly identified Omicron variant.

Bancel said in an interview to the Financial Times that it will take a couple of weeks to determine how much the mutations have affected the efficacy of the vaccines currently available in the market.

"Depending on how much it dropped, we might decide on the one hand to give a higher dose of the current vaccine around the world to protect people. Maybe people at very high risk, the immunocompromised, and the elderly should need a fourth dose," he said.

The dollar index drifted down to 95.66 before regaining some lost ground. At 95.82, the index is down 0.55% from the previous close.

Asian stocks closed mostly lower on Tuesday and European stocks are down sharply. U.S. stock futures are falling as well, pointing to a negative start on Wall Street.

Gold futures for February are up $10.20 or 0.57% at $1,792.50 an ounce.

Silver futures are little changed at $22.795 an ounce, while Copper futures are down $0.025 or 0.58% at $4.316 per pound.

On the economic front, the house price index for the third-quarter is due at 9 AM ET.

The Chicago PMI reading for the month of November is due at 9:45 AM ET, and the data on Consumer Confidence for the month of November is due at 10 AM ET.