Gold Spot Price Open: $1,263
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,276
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$13
Silver Spot Price Open: $17.14
Silver Spot Price Close: $17.78
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.64
For yet another day this week, precious metals benefited from investor uncertainty and were able to end the week in positive fashion. When all was said and done, gold was able to gain about 13 dollars while silver improved by more than 60 cents. Platinum and palladium finished the day and week mixed as palladium continued its downward trend.
US Economy Off to Extremely Slow Start to New Year
Flash back to a few months ago when we were pondering with regard to how the US economy would do in 2015, and you can probably recall expectations that the United States would be a global economic leader for yet another year. While this still may be the case, the first few weeks of this New Year have been rocky, to say the least.
With poor readings on inflation, poor manufacturing data, and even poorer retail sales reports, the economic data coming out of the US to start the year really couldn’t have been much worse. Unfortunately, they did exactly that when the US Labor Department announced that weekly jobless claims had once again crossed over the 300,000 threshold. Still, most economists remain steadfast in their belief that the US economy will be just fine as this year moves on. Experts are now pointing to the decline in energy prices as something that will inevitably boost consumer spending.
Despite recently poor economic data from the US, today saw equities as well as the USD Index finish on the up and up. In fact, the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 gained more than one percent each.
Swiss Franc on Par With Euro
Immediately after the Swiss National Bank decided on Thursday to unpeg the Franc from the Euro, the Swiss currency shot up in value. Though it ended Thursday being worth about 20% more than the Euro, the Franc was seen plummeting back to earth today and finished the day just about even with the currency that, up until a day ago, it was paired with. Though the Franc has benefited from the SNB’s move, the Euro is still continuing to suffer.
For this reason, it will be interesting to see what the European Central Bank has to say at their meeting next week. Everyone is expecting a quantitative easing announcement to be made, but beyond that, investors are wanting to hear what other actions are being taken to spur economic growth across the region. As we head further into this year, you can bet that the market’s focus on Europe will only intensify as their financial and economic problems do.
Wrap-Up
As we bring this week to a close, investors can reflect on yet another 5-day trading session of gains for gold and silver. The global marketplace, as it become increasingly nervy, is seeming to become a lot more bullish on precious metals, so it will be intriguing to see just how far this run can extend. Next week will likely resemble this one in that it will be filled with economic data and discussion points that are sure to keep investors occupied. Of course, the main focus next week will be everything and anything happening across the European Union.
