Gold Spot Price Open: $1,215
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,211
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$4
Silver Spot Price Open: $16.64
Silver Spot Price Close: $16.42
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.22
After fluctuating a bit throughout the day, both gold and silver finished the day right around where they began it. When all was said and done, gold did not finish too far from where it opened while silver managed to decline by about twenty cents. Platinum and palladium both ended the day having gained about 2 dollars or so.
Equities Rebound, but Marketplace Remains Confused
This week has been as up and down as they come for equities. While the first two days of this week saw equity markets across the globe take significant hits, these last few days have seen equities recover nicely. While stock investors are content to see equities bounce back, the current market atmosphere is one that has bred nothing but confusion. While one day, investors will seek safe-haven assets as a result of worries with regard to Europe and other struggling economies, the next day will see investors buy up stocks because of the influx of easy money being created by central banks all over the world.
With as much volatility as we have seen on the part of equities this week, I would not be at all surprised to see more safe-haven demand consume the marketplace in the coming days. With stock indexes being this volatile after hitting record highs, some people are convinced that we are in store for a downward correction sometime soon. Though this may not necessarily be the case, the marketplace has seen its interest in gold and silver perk up this week unlike it has in any of the last few trading sessions.
Dollar Trends Higher Yet Again
While equity indexes have yielded nothing but volatility, the USD Index has provided investors with the opposite. The greenback, which had a great 2014, has been doing extremely well in recent weeks and is continuing that trend this week. The USD Index is now hovering around a 10-year high while the Euro is now at a 9-year low against the greenback.
As has been the case for some time now, the surging USD is one of the biggest factors working against precious metals. Though gold and silver were not as affected by the USD this week thanks to falling equities, the Dollar will continue to be a factor for metals going forward.
Short-Covering, Bargain Hunting Help Minimize Losses
Though the last two days have not seen gold and silver spot values make gains at all reminiscent of those made on Monday and Tuesday, it is encouraging to see mild corrective pullbacks as opposed to the type that completely eliminate all gains. Thanks to short-covering by futures traders and an increase in bargain hunting purchases of physical metals, spot values have been able to weather the stronger Dollar and recovering equities. Though the market is still incredibly bearish for gold and silver, it seems as though the tide may be turning ever so slightly.
It will be interesting to see what the last day of the week has in store for precious metals. At this point, weekly gains look likely, but anything can happen between now and the end of the day on Friday.
Wrap-Up
To be fair, today was not an overly busy day on the global market. There were very few pieces of economic data made public and, what little data investors did have to mull over was deemed to be mostly a non-factor. The same cannot be said about tomorrow where a good bit of data is expected to be made public from a variety of different regions of the world. Whether these pieces of economic data have any sort of major impact on the marketplace, however, remains to be seen.
