Gold Spot Price Open: $1,204
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,205
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$1
Silver Spot Price Open: $16.32
Silver Spot Price Close: $16.41
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.09
After spending much of the day mixed, precious metals were able to finish in the green to start off this last week of February trading. When all was said and done, gold managed to gain about a dollar while silver improved by more than 5 cents. Platinum and palladium both ended the day with some gains, though both spot values improved by just about 5 dollars.
Greece Reaches Bailout Deal
When things wrapped up on Friday, it seemed as though Greece’s new government was unable to strike a deal with EU creditors regarding a bailout package extension. Because of this belief, most entered the weekend under the impression that Greece’s days as a member of the EU were limited. To the surprise of many, however, this week got underway with news of a deal reached between Greece and their creditors.
According to reports published over the weekend, Greece managed to reach a deal that will see an ongoing financing plan extended for another 4 months. This move not only helps Greece avoid a credit crunch that would threaten to force them out of the European Union, it gives their government more time to approach EU creditors with changes to the 2012 bailout plan. While the fact that a deal was reached this past weekend has spurred risk-appetite, the reality of the matter is that Greece’s problems are simply being brushed aside for now and will need to be dealt with sometime in the near future.
Eyes Turn to Janet Yellen Testimony
This week is not going to be all that exciting from an economic data standpoint, but with Janet Yellen delivering her semi-annual monetary policy testimonial to Congress Tuesday and Wednesday, the market is naturally paying close attention. Thanks to growing uncertainty across the global marketplace investors are growing increasingly confused as to when Yellen is actually planning on raising interest rates. Still, investors will be picking apart just about everything Yellen has to say over the course of the next few days.
As it stands, the outlook on precious metals is bleak due to the fact that risk-appetite has been given a boost thanks to the deal reached in Greece. With that said, however, Janet Yellen being more conservative in her two-day testimony could very quickly increase safe-haven demand for metals.
Existing Home Sales Fall Dramatically in January
Though this week is not expected to be very busy from an economic data standpoint, there was one report from the United States made public this morning. According to a report published by the National Association of Realtors, home sales in January fell by almost 5% on an annualized basis. This only adds to a recent run of poor economic data from the United States.
Though the US Dollar performed well today, today’s data worked to bring the USD Index down from daily highs. We will continue to closely monitor the USD as the week plays out to see how it affects the precious metals market going forward.
Wrap-Up
Today saw spot values bounce around between small losses and small gains, but at the end of the day today’s movement was more or less negligible. As we head deeper into the week, the attention of the global marketplace will remain fixated on a wide array of issues, but will very closely focus on what Janet Yellen has to say to members of Congress. As it stands, Ms. Yellen’s comments to Congress is the most important piece of news we will have to deal with through the early parts of the week.
