Gold Spot Price Open: $1,087
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,085
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$2
Silver Spot Price Open: $14.37
Silver Spot Price Close: $14.34
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.03
Precious metals moved downward yet again on Thursday as the general interest level in gold and silver continues to lag. When all was said and done, gold lost another few dollars while silver lost another few cents. Platinum and palladium also lost value on the day, with palladium tallying the larger losses of the two metals.
Lack of Inputs Keeps Metals Subdued
This week has been plagued by a general lack of economic inputs, especially inputs that would be perceived as being bullish for gold and silver. What economic data we have received this week has been mostly bearish for gold and silver. Today, for example, the weekly jobless claims report was published by the Labor Department and came back in line with what was reported a week ago. For precious metals, this news was neither here nor there and did not help spot values much at all.
In early morning news, the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, delivered a speech that was determined by investors to be more dovish than anything else with regard to monetary policy. In his prepared speech, Draghi alluded that the European Central Bank may move to increase monetary easing as soon as December. With more easy money looking like it will come to fruition in Europe, the Euro currency is currently losing value at just about every turn.
In European economic news, it was reported that September industrial production fell by .3%, but was up by nearly 2% on an annualized basis. All in all, this was perceived as being somewhat positive news for the Eurozone because the region has recently been on the receiving end of extremely poor data.
IMF Tells Fed to Hold Off On Interest Rate Hikes
At this point in time, the global marketplace is more or less convinced that interest rates will be hiked before the end of the year. The International Monetary Fund, however, thinks that the Fed should hold off on hiking rates until inflation levels rise considerably. In addition, the IMF stated that the labor market needs to improve as well before interest rates are hiked.
The IMF note said, in part, “The Federal Open Market Committee’s decision should remain data-dependent, with the first increase in the federal funds rate waiting until continued strength in the labor market is accompanied by firm signs of inflation rising steadily toward the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent medium-term inflation objective.”
Interest rates in the US have not moved for nearly a decade, and thanks to recent Fed commentary the investing world was thinking that that might change in the near future. The IMF went on to say that other G20 countries should support China in their effort to liberalize their economy and bring more sustainable growth to the second-largest economy in the world.
Wrap-Up
Thursday was one of the more eventless days of this week as very little economic data trickled its way in. The IMF note was big news, but it did not seem to do much in the way of shifting investors’ opinions with regard to interest rate hikes. Looking forward to the last day of this week, it is my guess that the interest of investors will remain on interest rates and their possible being hiked before the end of this year.
