Gold Spot Price Open: $1,197
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,191
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$6
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.42
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.31
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.11
After making large gains on Monday precious metals opened up Tuesday hovering near even. When all was said and done, gold lost roughly 6 dollars while silver lost a bit more than ten cents Platinum and palladium finished the day positively, but their gains were quite small.
Oil Prices Dominate Headlines Again
The spot value of gold surged to near 8-month highs on Tuesday thanks to the continued slide of crude oil prices and equities. As has been the case for a while now, the price action of crude oil is dictating how equities around the world react. The day began with some profit-taking after yesterday’s gains, but what small losses began the day quickly evaporated thanks to equities extending their slide.
Market experts are looking to see if gold can reach and eclipse the $1,200/ounce mark. The prevailing belief is that if gold can sustain levels above that mark, spot values may be poised to move higher. Since the beginning of last week, gold has gained more than 7% and silver has done similarly well. Tuesday may be a new day, but the fact of the matter is that our major talking points have not really changed at all. Investors the world over are still quite uncertain about what the future holds, and for this reason safe-haven demand for gold and silver will remain high. Of course, the eyes of the investing world will remain fixated on the price action of gold and silver.
Yen Approaching 2-Year Highs as Euro Struggles
Against the Dollar as well as a host of other currencies, the Yen has done extremely well over the past few weeks. Today saw the Yen hit levels not seen since November of 2014. Since February, the Yen has gained more than 5% against the greenback and is looking like it will go even higher before all is said and done.
The Dollar hit a 4-month low on Tuesday as the same market conditions that have persisted over the last few months are actively working to devalue the US currency. With Chinese markets closed due to the Lunar New Year holiday this week was always going to be a bit slower than normal.
From Europe, there were fresh worries regarding the fragility of the region’s banking system. This only works to add to the massive level of uncertainty that pervades all countries and economic systems. For gold and silver, the continued release of disappointing economic data is only working to drive spot values upward. Investors are growing increasingly unsure of what to do going forward, so we will likely see safe-haven demand for precious metals to remain strong.
Wrap
On the whole, this week is gearing up to be fairly quiet mostly thanks to the Chinese absence from market activity. The month of February is not typically a big one for economic data releases, and that much rings very true this week. For gold and silver we will be interested to see how far spot values can go. Like was touched on before, the $1,200/ounce level for gold is a pivotal one. If we see the yellow metal eclipse this mark through the early parts of this week, we may see even more interest in precious metals be created, thus pushing spot values even higher.
