Gold hit hard, Goldman keeps $5,400 target

Welcome to Seeking Alphas Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors

every morning.

It's good to be with you on this final day of March.

Today is Tuesday, the 31st.

I'm Julie Morgan.

Gold is ticking higher.

Spot gold is up about 1% to 4567, but down 14% this month.

Silver advance $4.4% to $73, but slip 23% so far this month.

The 14% fall for gold puts it on track for its steepest fall since October of 2008,

wait down by a stronger dollar index and fading expectations of a U.S. interest rate

cut this year.

Prices are, however, up about 5% for the quarter.

But Goldman Sachs retains its bullish view on gold despite the recent sell-off, forecasting

renewed gains by the end of this year.

According to media reports, analysts at Goldman said in a note that gold's medium-term outlook

remains intact, and the precious metal may reach $5,400 an ounce, citing continued central

bank purchases and two more U.S. rate cuts this year.

General Motors is halting operations at factory zero until April 13.

This extends downtime that initially started around March 16.

The automaker said the move is meant to align EV output with current market demand after

a roughly 50% cut-in production at factory zero earlier this year.

This underscores a broader slowdown in EV adoption in the U.S.

GM has also taken significant financial hits tied to its EV strategy, including write-downs

totaling about $7.6 billion.

Netflix is reportedly looking to double its coverage of NFL games.

The streamer is seeking a four-game package that would add a game on the day before Thanksgiving,

as well as an international game.

Under its current package with the NFL expiring at the end of this calendar year, Netflix

has a three-year deal for a specialized Christmas Day package, which typically includes two

games.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the NFL is taking a flexible approach to selling

additional games and could open up negotiations with other current rights holders, including

Google and Amazon.

Now for a look at a few other articles that are trending, Unilever and McCormick are

near a merger to create a global food giant.

The Pentagon calls a report on headset the Black Rock Defense Fund bets before the

Iran War as false and fabricated, and Microsoft plans to invest over $1 billion in Thailand

for cloud and AI infrastructure.

I have a few items to tell you about on our catalyst to watch for the day.

Hershey will hold its investor day event.

The CEO and the CFO will discuss the company's key strategic and financial priorities.

Just mentioning Hershey makes me think about the Kit Kat bars that were stolen 12 tons.

If you haven't seen that story, you gotta look it up.

I'm like, what are they doing with that much candy?

Now back to our catalyst to watch.

The New Coca-Cola CEO will take over the top spot from James Quincy, who will transition

to the executive chairman position.

Royal Gold will hold an investor day event.

And Nike will hold its earnings conference call.

Options trading on Nike implies a 9% post earnings move.

The update for management on trends in China will also be closely watched by other consumer

companies with a higher exposure to the nation, including Starbucks, Estee Lauder, and

Sketchers, while on holdings has the closest trading correlation to Nike over the last year.

On Wall Street, Stock Index futures are sharply higher.

After the Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump told AIDS, he is willing

to end hostilities with Iran on a four to six week timeline, prioritizing the degradation

of Iran's navy and missile stocks, over the more complex mission of reopening the

straight of four moves.

Dow S&P and NASDAQ futures are in the green all up around the 0.9% range.

Crude oil is up 1% at 103.

Bitcoin is down 0.5% at 66,000.

The FTSE 100 is up 0.7%, and the DAX is up 0.8%.

And the markets in India close for a holiday.

Virgin Galactic Holdings is on our list of the biggest movers of the day pre-market, spaced

without the A is up 9%, despite mix Q4 results with revenue declining about 28% year over

year.

And on today's economic calendar, we have two items at 9 a.m. and another 2 at 10 a.m.,

the Casular Home Price Index and the FHFA House Price Index, both at 9 a.m., and at 10

a.m. consumer confidence and the job openings in labor turnover survey.

That's it for today's Wall Street breakfast.

Thanks for listening.

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I'm your host Julie Morgan, go out and make it a great day.