Gold and silver prices are moderatelylower in early-afternoon U.S. trading Thursday. Despite a couple geopoliticalspeed bumps this week, traders and investors worldwide remain in generallyupbeat moods and that’s a negative for the safe-haven metals. Profit takingfrom the shorter-term futures traders was also featured in both metals today. April goldfutures were last down $4.80 an ounce at $1,316.40. May Comex silver was last down$0.142 at $15.53 an ounce.

U.S. stock indexeswere just slightly down at midday Thursday, and not far below this week’sthree-month highs—an indication of still-keen trader and investor demanddespite a couple of geopolitical events this week. Some risk aversionbriefly crept back into the marketplace Thursday as the U.S.-North Koreanuclear summit in Vietnam has ended abruptly with no agreement after NorthKorea’s leader Kim Jong Un demanded an end to sanctions on his country andwould not agree to U.S. President Trump’s demands to de-nuclearize. However,the two leaders apparently left the meeting on good terms, which assuaged themarketplace following some uneasiness in overnight trading. There is anothergeopolitical development that has the attention of the world marketplace thisweek. India and Pakistan this week exchanged military strikes on eachother. India bombed what it said was a terrorist camp in Pakistan, withPakistan retaliating by shooting down two Indian aircraft. This news has Asianstock and financial markets jittery. Any escalation of this situation willprompt significant safe-haven demand for gold and silver.

Today’s release ofthe fourth-quarter U.S. GDP report showed a slightly stronger-than-expectedrise of 2.6%, on an annual basis. That compares to trade expectations of a riseof 2.2%. Gold prices down-ticked a bit after that report.

There was weakmanufacturing data coming out of China today, as its official purchasingmanagers’ index fell to 49.2 in February, down from 49.5 in January. A readingbelow 50.0 shows contraction in the sector. U.S. trade sanctions on China havehurt its economy. That could be read as bearish for gold, as China’s populationis a leading gold consumer. On an upbeat note, U.S. Trade RepresentativeLighthizer told a congressional committee on Wednesday that the U.S. andChina are moving closer to a trade deal and that any new U.S. tariffs onChina would be delayed from the March 1 original implementation.