Gold Spot Price Open: $1,169
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,164
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$5
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.85
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.71
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.14
For yet another day, precious metals’ spot prices sunk in value, though today’s losses were not as bad as what we saw on Friday of last week. When all was said and done, gold lost about 5 dollars while silver moved downward to the tune of nearly fifteen cents. Platinum and palladium spot values both slid by more than 15 dollars today. As is plain to see, the precious metals market has been taking a bit of a beating recently, and it is not looking like things are going to immediately get any better.
Technical Posture of Gold, Silver Lacking
For the last week or more, we have continually harped on the topic of gold and silver’s overall technical posture beginning to slowly but surely disintegrate. Things have not gotten any better over the last 7 days, and in many respects, things have really only gotten worse. The USD Index, which hit two 11.5 month highs last week, surged forward again today. This, coupled with faltering crude oil prices, both played into the most recent precious metals price drop.
Thankfully, US stock indexes suffered a bit of a pullback and, as such, precious metals avoided being completely battered by bearish outside markets. Still, investor risk-appetite remains on the rise and is just one of many factors that will continue to pressure the precious metals market. Barring any shockingly poor US economic data, most do not see the tide changing all that much through the last few days of this week. Things are mostly quiet and, at present, that is a terrible thing for metals.
Eyes Remain On Europe This Week
If I’m being honest, this 5-day trading session is not expected to play host to all that much in the way of economic data. Because of this, investors are finding themselves focusing on other, more obscure topics in order to pass the time and gauge the market. As has been the case recently, the investing world is keeping close tabs on Europe, specifically the European Union and the Euro currency. The region has been at the center of some consistently poor economic growth over the last few years, and things are beginning to boil over in many senses.
Indicative of Europe’s struggles is the fact that many market experts expect the Euro to continue falling such that it will eventually be an even trade with the Dollar. The Euro posted sharp losses today and, in truth, is not all that far away from being on par with the greenback.
Also happening in Europe this week is the beginning of the recently announced quantitative easing bond-buying initiative put forth by the European Central Bank. Though it is still far too early to tell if QE in Europe will be as impactful in Europe as it was in the United States, many think that European stocks will see marked improvement over the coming months.
Wrap-Up
Looking ahead to Wednesday and the rest of the week, investors can expect much of the same as what they have seen through Monday and Tuesday; which really hasn’t been that much. The weekly jobless claims report from the US will catch some investor attention, but after last week’s jobs report I do not think it will have any major impact on the marketplace. That is, of course, assuming that last week’s jobless claims were not too far from normal.
