Gold Spot Price Open: $1,249
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,231
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$18
Silver Spot Price Open: $16.38
Silver Spot Price Close: $16.16
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.22
Precious metals moved downward again on Thursday as the momentum we were seeing towards the beginning of the week has since faded. When all was said and done, gold lost more than fifteen dollars while silver trended downward by about twenty-two cents. Platinum and palladium finished the day mixed, with platinum losing close to ten dollars while palladium gained nearly twenty dollars.
Stocks, Dollar Hold; Push Precious Metals Downward
Both the Dollar and most major US equity markets edged higher on Thursday and this alone effectively prevented gold and silver from having a positive day. In fact, many major world equity markets hit 2016 highs on Thursday on renewed hopes that perhaps 2016 will not be as dismal a year as previously thought.
Though gold and silver seem to be performing as of late, most market experts are saying that precious metals are beginning to level out after an extraordinarily positive last few months. The first quarter of 2016 alone was the best single quarter for most precious metals in more than three decades. Because talk of higher interest rates is something that simply will not go away, it seems as though it is going to take something big for gold and silver to be able to make significantly higher moves that can be sustained over the near and longer-terms.
Despite saying over and over again that traders are not anticipating interest rate hikes in April nor May, their activity across the global marketplace suggests otherwise. The fact of the matter is that there is still a strong contingent that thinks the Fed may make a surprise move in the coming month or two. With all this being said, some rather lukewarm economic data from the United States was dealt today and that seems to have done little to affect the outlooks of investors from around the world.
Consumer Prices Remain Mostly Flat in March
Some economic data was dealt today, and among the headliners of today’s data slate was a report that indicated consumer prices inched just slightly higher in March. Expectations were, at least hoping, for a steeper incline as this would lend itself to the camp that wants to see interest rates hiked sooner rather than later.
One factor preventing Wall Street from having a solid day across the board was the fact that most major US Banking institutions posted earnings numbers that were none too impressive. Not only did both Wells Fargo and BofA post smaller earnings than were projected, investors noticed an increase in reserves to, in a way, counteract volatility presented by their energy holdings. As you may or may not have picked up on, the energy sector has been particularly beaten down thanks to the falling price of oil over the past year or more. Iran’s newly reinstated presence in the market also paints a dimmer picture for the energy sector.
Wrap-Up
As we look ahead to the final day of the week, it will be interesting to see if gold and silver can revert any of the past two days’ losses. For now, we are looking at a period of three weeks for gold and silver that are amongst the year’s worst. As we head deeper into the month of April, all-important central bank gatherings will catch the attention of investors around the world and are sure to sway the outlook on interest rate hikes and other critical manners in one direction or another.
