Gold Spot Price Open: $1,198
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,190
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$8
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.89
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.80
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.09
Gold and silver spot values began the day making modest gains, but by the time things came to a close spot values were mixed. When all was said and done, gold lost about 8 dollars while silver lost closer to ten cents. Platinum and palladium both finished down, but by less than 10 dollars apiece.
US Stocks Lifted During Early Dealings
US stocks began the day on Wednesday posting mild gains as energy shares gained some value due to crude oil prices jump back up. After stocks in the US spent most of this week and the better part of last week posting losses, today saw them bounce back in impressive fashion. Still, with worries regarding a global economic slowdown currently making rounds, one can only wonder how permanent the success of stocks will be. As of now, it seems as though the price of crude oil is directly influencing how stocks acts.
So long as the price of crude oil continues to lag, you can expect that energy shares will too. For this reason and many more, you can expect that investors from around the world will continue to keep a close eye on anything and everything concerning the energy market. This is especially true as depressed crude oil prices are continuing to wreak havoc on the Russian economy and the Russian ruble. Speaking of the ruble, it is now up off recent lows, but is still performing quite poor against a number of rivals, including the USD. A key feature in the marketplace over the upcoming weeks will be how Russia plans on combating their weak economy, failing currency, and bleak economic outlook.
US CPI Data Doesn’t Impress
According to a report published this morning by the US Department of Labor, weaker crude oil values have helped to push down consumer price pressures throughout the month of November. According to the Department of Labor, November’s CPI fell by .3% on a seasonally-adjusted basis. This was not too big of a deal, even though expectations were for a .1% decline.
According to year-on-year data, last month’s CPI rose by 1.3% from October’s stagnant increase of 1.7% As was stated before, CPI is currently being impacted by crude oil prices and will likely continue to be for some time to come.
Investors Digest FOMC Meeting, Statement
At the conclusion of this week’s FOMC policy meeting, investors were almost immediately confused at the statements being made by Janet Yellen during her post-meeting statement. On one hand, Ms. Yellen reiterated that there is still “considerable time” until interest rates are changed, but she went on to make hawkish statements which led people to believe the exact opposite. All in all, investors were given very little useful information on a day when they were expecting a solid timeline with regard to when interest rates would be raised.
Gold and silver have not really responded to the statement made by Janet Yellen, but we will continue to analyze things into tomorrow as investors try their hardest to digest today’s statement and try to make sense of it. By this time tomorrow, investors from all over the world will have had ample time to look over and discuss just what exactly Ms. Yellen told us today.
Wrap-Up
As was just stated, the attention of the market will continue to be on the outcome, or lack thereof, of today’s FOMC meeting. There isn’t too much in the way of economic data to close out the week, and for that reason, things will generally be a bit quieter than normal. Still, I imagine that there will be plenty of price action on the part of crude oil, stocks, and currencies for us to keep a close eye on as we close out this week.
