Gold Spot Price Open: $1,231
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,230
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$1
Silver Spot Price Open: $17.25
Silver Spot Price Close: $17.28
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.03
Precious metals, for a second consecutive day, didn’t do much moving, but what movement did take place was mostly in the upward direction. When all was said and done, gold lost about a dollar while silver picked up a few pennies. Platinum and palladium both managed gains as well, in the neighborhood of $10 apiece.
Dollar Drops on Poor US Economic Data
Against most major currencies today, the US Dollar continued to decline. In fact, this is now the second consecutive day in which the USD Index, which measures the greenback against a number of rival currencies, declined. Not helping the Dollar at all was a fairly weak batch of US economic data. According to the US Commerce Department, orders for high-priced items (namely airplanes) fell by 1.3% during September. This decline comes only a month after the massive, 18.3%, skid that took place in August. The more than one percent decline realized in September was in stark contrast to analysts’ expectations of a .5% increase.
All things considered, today was a pretty woeful one for the greenback, but against the Swedish Krona, the Dollar advanced. The reason for this is due to an announcement made by Sweden’s Central Bank claiming that interest rates are going to be slashed to near-0 levels. Against the USD, the Krona is now sitting at a near 4-year low.
Durable Goods Data Aids Metals, But Only Temporarily
The aforementioned durable goods data aided precious metals and saw gold and silver spot values shoot upward during the morning, but by mid-afternoon most of those gains had been pared.
Now, the attention of the marketplace shifts to the conclusion of the FOMC’s ongoing monthly policy meeting, scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Upon the conclusion of the meeting you can bet your bottom dollar that the marketplace will be heavily scrutinizing anything and everything the Fed has to say with regard to interest rates. At present, however, most people are not expecting the Fed to do much else besides reiterate why interest rate hikes are not going to happen until sometime during the middle of next year. If the Fed’s tone continues to be one that is averse to raising interest rates anytime in the near future, chances are, that will provide at least some underlying support for gold and silver.
Attention Remains on the Movement of Crude Oil Prices
Despite the fact that crude oil prices were seen steadying and holding near two-year lows, most experts agree that the next few weeks will see the price of oil hit yet another downside technical target, around $75/barrel. While the declining value of oil is not helping raw commodities out in the least, it is really doing the most damage to the Russian ruble. Russia’s currency has fallen to record lows over the past 2 weeks and is continuing to grow weaker by the day.
Equities Rally on Upbeat Earnings Reports
US stock indexes, across the board, were seen making massive strides forward today. Helping stocks was a combination of improved consumer sentiment in the US as well as more upbeat earnings reports. Dow industrials have risen for four consecutive days now and are not looking back. According to Sean Lynch, global equity strategist and researcher for Wells Fargo, “The consumer remains pretty strong, and large-cap, U.S. stocks are a good place to be.”
Despite recent geopolitical areas of concern like the Ebola outbreak and last week’s shooting of a Canadian military guard in Ottawa, stocks in the US have been hanging tough and are still seeming to hit on all cylinders.
Wrap-Up
Today was a fairly busy day from a global economic perspective, but none of today’s data did much in the way of moving precious metals. Come tomorrow, we are likely going to be saying the exact opposite as it is highly likely the market will be having a field-day with the FOMC’s post-meeting statement. As is always the case, the global marketplace of investors will be paying extremely close attention to both what the Fed has to say, as well as how they phrase it.
