Gold Spot Price Open: $1,265
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,276
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$11
Silver Spot Price Open: $17.63
Silver Spot Price Close: $17.74
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.11
Precious metals managed to gain some ground on Tuesday thanks to some weaker than expected economic data from the US. When all was said and done, gold picked up around 11 dollars while silver added roughly 11 cents. Platinum and palladium both moved forward on the day, but platinum was the big gainer, having picked up in upwards of 25 dollars while palladium inched forward by a dollar or two.
Consumer Confidence Data Misses Mark
If you can remember back almost a month, what was once a half-decent consumer confidence index from the month of September was revised upward to a reading that was well over the 103 mark. While investors were not expecting such a robust figure to be recorded for October, the expectation was that the drop-off would be marginal. Today, the US Conference Board showed us that perhaps consumers are not as confident as we once thought, indicated by an October index reading just above 98. The more than 5-point drop is not the biggest deal, but it does well to have some people rethink whether or not the Fed will be comfortable enough with the country’s economic strength to raise rates in December.
According to Lynn Franco, of the US Conference Board, “Consumer confidence retreated in October, after back-to-back monthly gains. Consumers’ assessment of current business and employment conditions softened, while optimism regarding the short-term outlook retreated somewhat. However, consumers’ expectations regarding their income prospects in the coming months were relatively unchanged. Overall, sentiment is that the economy will continue to expand in the near-term, but at a moderate pace.”
So, while today’s data may unnerve some, the bigger picture has not changed all that much. The US economy is still performing well and that, by most accounts, is all that needs to be the case for rate hikes to come to fruition. Still, with interest rate hikes the perpetual talk of the marketplace, even reports like this are going to make headlines.
Metals Continue to Benefit from Bargain-Hunting
Even with the minimal progress made by precious metals today, spot values are a far ways away from where they were even a few months ago. This fact alone is something that is breeding a lot of bargain-hunting purchases of physical metals. Especially from Asia, demand for gold and silver is strong and will likely remain that way so long as spot values stay as subdued as they have been.
As we have mentioned before, even though bargain-hunting will almost never be enough to spark a huge rally on the part of gold and silver spot values, it is currently working to alleviate some of the pressure facing the metals market from outside factors and, specifically, rate hike expectations.
Wrap-Up
All things considered, Tuesday was another slow day across the global marketplace. Metals did do well thanks to bargain-hunting in conjunction with a weak economic report from the US, but there are underlying factors preventing spot values from moving too far forward. On the whole, all eyes are looking to Friday and the release of the latest GDP data from the United States’ 3rd quarter. By now, you know what to expect. Should the data be in line or above expectations, metals are likely to suffer as a result. If the opposite happens and GDP misses the mark by a long shot, you might see a bit of a rally on the part of metals. Still, until rate hike expectations are eliminated entirely it is difficult to envision gold and silver spot values from moving too far forward for any sort of sustained period of time.
