Gold Spot Price Open: $1,268
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,267
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$1
Silver Spot Price Open: $17.57
Silver Spot Price Close: $17.56
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.01
Precious metals performed half-decently to begin the week, but even a half-decent performance couldn’t stop spot values from inching downward. When all was said and done, gold lost about a single dollar while silver fell by roughly 1 penny. Platinum and palladium gained on the day, but their gains were mostly negligible as neither metal was able to pick up much more than a few dollars.
Weaker Dollar Lifts Metals
In case you haven’t taken note, we are seeing many of the same talking points dominate headlines day in and day out. While Thursday and Friday saw the Dollar rally at the expense of spot values, exactly the opposite happened today. The greenback moved off of a 9-month high to begin the week and this aided metals’ spot values to some extent.
In all, the current market is stacked up against gold and silver. Through the coming days this week we can expect to hear a number of Fed members’ own policy speeches as well as some Q3 growth data for the United States. With everyone still preoccupied with what the future holds for US interest rates, it should come as no surprise that these events will dominate the headlines as we move forward. Even without any of the speeches or data having been delivered yet, it is already plainly obvious that we are seeing a marketplace that is expecting a December rate hike. Until we receive information to have us think otherwise, it is going to be tough for metals to do much of anything other than tread water.
What’s more, the US presidential election seems to be over before it has even taken place. With each passing day the likelihood of a Donald Trump presidency fades. For those who are unaware, a Hillary Clinton presidency represents a calm transfer of power. A Trump presidential victory, on the other hand, breeds a lot of uncertainty. Understanding this, it is easy to see why Hillary’s momentum is translating into less support for metals.
While we mostly know what to expect from the coming days, this is shaping up to be an interesting week of trading nonetheless.
Stocks Firmer on Idea of Time Warner, At&T Merger
Stocks in the US and around the world are performing better to start this week thanks to a litany of factors. For one, US stocks are being lifted thanks to an absolutely massive merger set to take place between AT&T and Time-Warner. For the record, AT&T has proposed the acquisition of Time-Warner. While this is big news, there is still a lot that needs to happen before it is set in stone. For one, the US Justice Department needs to approve the deal. After that, there are all sorts of FCC licensing issues that need to be worked out. In general, the news of the merger lifted US stocks, but it did not do much of anything positive for the stocks of Time-Warner and AT&T, both of which fell to begin the week.
As we look forward to the next 4 days, a load of corporate earnings reports will be dealt and these will likely influence the trajectory of stocks as we head through the week. For gold and silver, equities performing well is just one more factor that is going to weigh on spot values.
