Gold Spot Price Open: $1,221
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,229
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$8
Silver Spot Price Open: $16.85
Silver Spot Price Close: $17.35
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.50
Precious metals made solid gains to close what has been an unusually slow week. When all was said and done, gold managed to gain around 8 dollars while silver improved by about a half dollar. Platinum and palladium also made gains on Friday, of between 5 and 15 dollars apiece.
Stocks Continue to Gain After Ukrainian Ceasefire Deal
For yet another day, stocks across Europe and the United States made impressive gains on the news that Ukrainian armed forces and pro-Russian separatists will begin a ceasefire on Sunday. It has been a long time since the Eastern part of Ukraine has seen any peace, so it is no surprise that this news has created more of a risk-on attitude amongst investors.
Pushing stocks across Europe forward on Friday was a report that eurozone economic growth towards the end of 2014 was better than expected. Of course, the German economy led the charger as one of Europe’s top performers over the course of the past few months. Also boosting energy stocks was the fact that crude oil prices partook in a bit of a rally to end the week.
Hope For Greece Surfaces
After reports all week suggested that Greece was assuredly on its way out of the European Union, today offered a contradictory piece of news. According to a number of European news outlets, the Greek government is apparently in talks with European creditors about some sort of deal that may lighten its requirements from 2012’s bailout plan. This news helped Greek stocks recover a bit from what has been a horrible run of form this week.
Though talks are just beginning, things in the EU may not be as bleak as previously thought. The results of this weekend’s talks will be made known on Monday, so expect investors to be paying particularly close attention to that. With how hard of a stance Germany was taking towards Greece, however, I am not so sure these talks are going to make all that much progress.
Dollar Index Fluctuates to Close Out Week
Despite finishing the day in the green, the USD Index shuffled between small gains and losses all day long. This has been a theme this week and the weaker Dollar has helped precious metals mitigate the pressure created by rallying equity markets. It will be interesting to see next week if the Dollar can bounce back from the last few days’ losses.
Wrap-Up
As we look ahead to next week, I expect that things will be about the same as they were through the past 5 days. With Greece government officials and European creditors still in talks, the market will have no choice but to see what the future holds for Greece. Additionally, it will be intriguing to see if the agreed upon ceasefire in Ukraine will hold for more than just a few hours.
