Gold Spot Price Open: $1,293
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,294
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$1
Silver Spot Price Open: $19.73
Silver Spot Price Close: $19.86
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.13
Gold and silver were finally able to stop their respective declines on Friday, though the market bears have clear control of the market currently. When all was said and done on Friday, gold managed to gain about a dollar while silver picked up a little more than ten cents.
Keeping up with this week’s theme, Friday was another uneventful day from an economic and geopolitical standpoint. Investors continue to ponder the very real possibility that interest rates may be risen as early as a year from now. From a precious metals perspective, higher interest rates makes the opportunity costs associated with holding gold in lieu of other investments significantly higher than it is in a time of low interest rates. In general, higher interest rates makes investing in gold and silver less appealing in general.
In little less than 10 trading sessions the spot value of gold has fallen nearly $100 while spot silver has declined by more than a dollar. US equities performed well today and were likely boosted by another drop in weekly jobless claims which was reported on Thursday. In general, however, US equities have been under performing as of late and are significantly lower than high points realized little more than a month ago.
The situation in Ukraine is still very much on outskirts of the market’s attention, but is still there. The United States has been trying to economically and politically isolate Russia in recent days, seen in Russia’s being ousted of the group of nations formerly known as G-8 (now G-7). The problem with EU members placing sanctions on Russia, however, lies within the fact that a lot of Europe benefits greatly from trading relations with Russia; a relationship that would be all but eliminated should a Russian-reliant nation place sanctions on the Kremlin. With all this being said, it is clear to see that there are still a lot of potential developments that will stem from the situation in Ukraine/Russia.
