Gold Spot Price Open: $1,319
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,319
Change in Gold Spot Price: NO CHANGE
Silver Spot Price Open: $20.12
Silver Spot Price Close: $20.00
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.12
Gold and silver ended the week in lackluster fashion as neither metal’s spot value move too far in one direction or another. When all was said and done, gold finished in the same position as when it opened the day while silver lost a little more than ten cents.
One of the biggest data points made its way to the headlines before US markets even opened on Friday. A report from China showed that Chinese exports in March declined by nearly 7%, adding to February’s massive decline in exports. February’s monthly exports were down by almost 20%, an event that intensified concern with regard to the strength of the Chinese economy. China’s premier, Li Keqiang, made it clear that while he is closely watching any and all economic activity in China, he and his colleagues are not going to rush into any new monetary stimulus measures just yet.
US equities, along with equities from various markets across the globe, have been on the decline for much of this week and are showing signs of weakness heading into the weekend. If stocks continue to feel selling pressure, risk-averse investors will likely instead flee to safe-haven gold and silver. Also helping precious metals this week was a change in investor attitude with regard to when US interest rates will be risen. After this week’s FOMC minutes, investors now believe that interest rates in the US may not actually be risen until sometime later than a year from now. This was the predominant belief up until a few weeks ago, but high-ranking members of the Federal Reserve alluded that interest rates may be on the rise sooner than expected, remarks that sent a shock wave of worry across the market. Precious metals investors are skittish of rising interest rates due to the simple fact that rising interest rates makes the opportunity costs of holding gold and silver in lieu of other investments much higher than when interest rates are lower. Hopefully we will receive some further insight into when and by how much interest rates will be risen sometime in the near future because at this juncture it is mostly blind speculation.
It will be interesting to see if gold and silver can hang on to this week’s gains through the weekend or if profit-taking and chart consolidation will drive spot values downward once again.
