Gold prices aimed higher over the past 24 hours as financial markets settled into the new year. The anti-fiat yellow metal inversely tracked the 10-year Treasury yield. The latter fell 2.3 percent in the worst single day drop since the middle of December.
The drop in bond rates matters for the non-yielding precious metal. Last year, XAU/USD suffered as aggressive monetary tightening pushed up bond yields and the US Dollar. That dampened the prospect of holding gold. It also remains a key risk for the yellow metal this year.