Oil Slips Below $71, Gold Rises

Brent crude fell to $70.84 four-month lows as US-Iran peace talks showed positive progress. Gold rose 0.8% to $4,063 on softer US jobs data and a weaker dollar. Crude at $70.84 vs the $111 peak during the West Asia crisis is transformational. India's import bill shrinks, rupee strengthens, inflation cools and OMC under-recoveries disappear. Every $10 fall in crude saves India approximately $15 billion annually. Usually peace pushes gold lower. But today softer US jobs data triggered gold's rise weak jobs signal slower US economy increasing expectations of Fed rate cuts making gold more attractive. Oil and gold moved on completely different triggers simultaneously. July 2's commodity session taught me that oil and gold can move in opposite directions driven by completely different triggers geopolitical peace for oil and interest rate expectations for gold making it essential to track both Fed signals and Middle East developments for energy stocks like $BPCL and $ONGC and precious metal stocks like $KALYANKJIL .