Gold Spot Price Open: $1,235
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,235
Change in Gold Spot Price: NO CHANGE
Silver Spot Price Open: $17.77
Silver Spot Price Close: $17.66
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.11
Stocks and the Dollar were doing better straight from the time markets opened on Tuesday, and that was enough to put some pressure on gold and silver. When all was said and done, gold ended the day where it started while silver lost about 11 cents. Platinum and palladium both lost on the day, but neither metal backtracked by much more than a few dollars.
Political Uncertainty Continues to Keep Metals Afloat
Tuesday did not offer all that much in the way of political commentary from the United States, however the lingering uncertainty is still hanging around. Whether we are talking about uncertainty with regard to President Trump’s foreign or domestic dealings, it is safe to say that there is plenty of uncertainty to be had right now. On US soil, investors are worried about the ongoing ramifications of the now-suspended immigration ban.
Though a Washington State Appeals Court judge put a hold on President Trump’s immigration ban—which affected 7 countries—the President is steadfast in his belief that the decision will be overturned. As the week plays out, this story is sure to stay in the headlines.
With regard to President Trump’s overseas dealings, he has a meeting this week with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Through the early goings, Trump has been very pro-Japanese will simultaneously taking an anti-China stance. This is something that has unnerved global investors to no end, and will likely continue to do exactly that. When you consider that Japan and China do not see eye to eye on most matters, Trump is doing nothing to mend that rift and, by many accounts, is doing a lot to widen it. These two geopolitical happenings alone have been helping keep safe-haven demand for precious metals afloat.
Fed Commentary on Rate Hikes
In the void of economic data that Tuesday provided us with, investors were able to turn their attention to the Fed and the ever-curious future of interest rates. To get you back up to speed, the overwhelming expectation is that the Fed will move to hike rates at least once, but as many as three more times, this year. Though this is still true, the exact timing of these hikes seems to be muddied thanks to less than impressive wage growth figures reported last week.
On Monday, Patrick Harker of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank made it very clear that he would be in favor of a March rate hike so long as the wage and job growth figures are strong enough. As recently as last week we reported that most did not anticipate a rate hike in March, however that might not necessarily be true. There are some market experts out there who are saying that, even though it does not look like it now, a March rate hike is still very much in the cards. Right now the marketplace is showing the aforementioned low rate hike expectations, however things might very well change in the coming weeks.
For gold and silver, a March rate hike would assuredly wreak havoc on spot values. So even though spot values have been on the up and up as of late, that does not mean they are going to remain in their currently elevated positions forever.
Wrap-Up
All told, Tuesday was a fairly quiet day. There was almost nothing in the way of noteworthy economic data, and the political commentary was as quiet as it has been since President Trump assumed office. Stocks and the US Dollar did rebound to some extent on Tuesday, precious metals were still able to mostly hang on to their positions. It will be interesting to see if the rest of the week will bring about the same.
