Gold Spot Price Open: $1,152
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,155
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$3
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.44
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.64
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.20
Precious metals have been able to bounce back a bit on Thursday after a few days of consecutive losses. When all was said and done, gold managed to pick up about 3 dollars while silver’s gains were around 20 cents. Platinum and palladium also gained today, though their gains were kept to a minimum.
USD Index Pulls Back Momentarily
It seems as though the US Dollar cannot lose as of late. After hitting to 11.5 month highs last week, the Index followed that up by hitting a 12 month high during the overnight hours. Though today saw the USD Index fall back after recent gains, it is clear to see that the Dollar is dominant as far as currencies are concerned. For gold and silver, the Dollar’s pullback today allowed for some buying interest on the part of bargain hunters. This buying interest is seen in today’s small, but welcomed gains.
Despite gains today, the marketplace is still mostly bearish when it comes to metals. The simple fact of the matter is that so long as investors have a high appetite for risk and are able to rely on the USD they will not be as keen on safe-haven gold and silver.
Currency Wars Continue
It seems as though every few days we see a central bank make a policy decision aimed at spurring econkmic growth. In Europe, quantitative easing measures went into effect this week, but in a somewhat surprise move, the South Korean central bank decided to lower interest rates. This, as you might have expected, is a move made in an attempt to devalue the Korean currency and encourage spending.
In other central bank news, Thailand announced on Wednesday that it too would be lowering interest rates. These “currency wars”, as they’ve become known, are bound to continue through the rest of the year. At the end of the day, the ongoing currency wars are turning out to be quite poor for metals as the constant devaluation 9f global currencies is only spiking interest in the USD. As such, i do not foresee the technical posture of gold nor silver to improve anytime soon. Just yesterday, metals were trading near 4 month lows and omly looking weaker by the second.
Some Light EU Economic Data
I have been saying it all week, but it’s worth reiterating that this 5 day trading session is mot expected to bring about much in the way of impactful economic data. An exception to that was offered this morning upon the release of the EU’s latest industrial outout report. According to the figures, EU industrial output from December to January officially fell by one tenth of one percent. As far as year on year output is concerned, the figures were up by more than 1%.
As the year moves forward we will continue to keep a close eyeanythingjing and everything happening in Europe, whether it be economic, financial, or otherwise. Before long I expect that Greece and its many financial and economic problems will be put back on the front burner of investors’ attention.
Wrap-Up
For yet another day this week there really hasn’t been too many major developments across the global trading landscape. A few central banks altered interest rates, but that is k quiet as the last few days have been, though investors will still likely be pouring over this week’s weekly jobless claims report.
