Gold Spot Price Open: $1,163
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,164
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$1
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.77
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.74
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.03
Precious metals ended the quiet day on Wednesday posting some mixed numbers. When all was said and done, gold managed to pick up about 1 dollar while silver lost roughly three cents. Platinum and palladium both also managed to add value somewhere in the neighborhood of a few dollars apiece.
Dollar Ticks Up, Limits Gains Made by Gold and Silver
For much of the day, the USD was moving sporadically upwards and downward. By mid-afternoon, however, the greenback was surging against its rivals and finished the day in the green. Now, the USD Index is sitting right around a four-year high and the greenback is looking stronger than ever.
For gold and silver, the stronger Dollar ended up bringing metals off of daily highs. Though gains were still made, it is clear to see that the bears are still very much in control of the marketplace right now. Gold, specifically, is seeing a lot of resistance every time it reaches the $1,180 mark, and this is only adding to the negative sentiment surrounding it and other precious metals. According to Ole Hansen, head of research at Saxo Bank, “The higher (intraday) low yesterday seems to have given gold a new lease of life, although no change in the overall negative sentiment will be seen unless we make it back above $1,180.”
Looking ahead to the last few days of this week, it is highly unlikely that anything will come about to spur metals to make even more gains. Though physical demand for gold and silver is strong due to depressed prices, physical demand alone has not and will not be enough to bring spot values back up to par.
Stocks Fall From Record Highs, Maintain Momentum
For the second consecutive day, major stock indexes in the US are trading downward and moving a bit further away from the record and multi-year highs we saw throughout much of the last few weeks. While US equities are on a bit of a decline through the middle parts of this week, stocks in Europe and Japan are doing extremely well.
In Japan, the Nikkei Index hit a 7-year high today as the Yen continues to depreciate and rumors regarding monetary policy shifts continue to abound. Rumors circulating today held that an originally planned, upcoming tax hike is going to be postponed. How this supposed postponement will affect the Nikkei Index going forward will be something that investors keep their eyes on. If the pre-planned tax hike is set to be postponed, it may mean for an even better day on the trading bloc for Japanese stocks.
International Regulators Sue Banks For Currency Manipulation
On this quiet Wednesday, the big news story of the day came in the form of a report that claims US, Swiss, and UK regulators have sued 5 major banks more than $3 billion for supposedly attempting to manipulate foreign exchange markets.
The report went on to say that HSBC, UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, JP Morgan Chase, and Citibank reached a settlement agreement with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the UK Financial Conduct Authority, and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority to pay about $3.4 billion in penalties. As it stands now, Barclays Bank is also under investigation.
The UK FCA was quoted as saying, “Today’s record fines mark the gravity of the failings we found, and firms need to take responsibility for putting it right. They must make sure their traders do not game the system to boost profits.” All things considered, it will be interesting to see how this new discovery ends up affecting the global marketplace.
Wrap-Up
Looking ahead to the final two days of the week, there really isn’t much for investors to latch on to and discuss. The lack of economic data this week has been a major part of the reason why things have remained so quiet. With that said, however, the upcoming release of the weekly jobless claims in the US will be of some importance to the market, especially after last week’s weaker than anticipated employment report for October.
