Gold Spot Price Open: $1,208
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,225
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$17
Silver Spot Price Open: $17.15
Silver Spot Price Close: $17.41
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.26
For a second consecutive day, gold and silver spot values edged noticeably higher as a direct result of the more dovish FOMC minutes. When all was said and done, gold picked up more than 15 dollars while silver was able to gain more than 25 cents. Platinum and palladium held steady for a majority of the day and ended up not adding all that much value.
US Equities Dive, Create Safe-Haven Demand for Precious Metals
From the minute markets opened in the US today, major stock indexes began to nosedive. While this is, by all accounts, surprising, the recent volatility we have seen in US equity markets is such that there is no saying what direction stocks will head from one day to the next. As such, many are pointing to the ongoing volatility as meaning that perhaps US stock indexes are topping out and preparing for a move downward. There is no way to concretely confirm or deny whether stocks are topping out or not, but today’s move downward by the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq has driven forward safe-haven demand for precious metals.
If, over the coming days and weeks, stocks continue to remain volatile and shift downward, this could potentially unearth a massive amount of underlying bullish support for precious metals. For this reason and many more, we will continue keeping a very close eye on any and all information stemming from US and world equities.
USD Gains Against Euro, Falls Against Yen
Like US equities, the US Dollar has also played host to some moderate volatility over the past few days. Today saw the greenback fall to a three-week low against the yen as investors from Asian markets digested yesterday’s FOMC minutes and interpreted them as meaning that the Fed will have to hold off on any interest rate hikes.
Against the Euro, however, the Dollar made some decent gains today. On the whole, the USD Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of rival currencies, ended the day on a positive note. The positive day experienced by the USD Index more or less affirms the widespread belief that even though the Dollar has faltered a bit in recent days, it is still on a solid move upward. As is the case with equities, we will also keep a close eye on how the Dollar performs to close out the week tomorrow.
In other news from the United States, there was yet another sign of a stabilizing labor market in the form of a record low number of people filing for unemployment benefits last week. Officially, the number of unemployment benefits filed for a week ago was the lowest such reading since before the recession of 2008/2009. Keep in mind that the Fed has stated, time and time again, that it will take marked improvement on the part of the US labor market before interest rate hikes are enacted.
Wrap-Up
As we gear up for the final day of this first full week of October trading, there really isn’t much economic data for investors to prepare for. Investors will, of course, be focused on the progress, or lack thereof, of equity and currency markets, but as far as official economic data is concerned, there isn’t much to speak of. The currently overriding concern of the market is the lack of growth by economies outside of the US. With Europe, Japan, and even China experiencing an economic growth slowdown, there is no way of telling what the next few months have in store for the global economy and precious metals.
