Gold Spot Price Open: $1,206
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,196
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$10
Silver Spot Price Open: $16.35
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.96
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.39
Precious metals opened up the week with modest losses as the US Dollar rebounded after last week’s poor performance. When all was said and done, gold lost about ten dollars while silver lost close to 40 cents. Platinum and palladium also posted decent losses today to start off what is looking like a slow 5-day trading session.
Greek Debt Talks Going Poorly
When we left off on Friday, the reports coming in from Europe indicated that talks between Greek and International Monetary Fund/EU officials were not going well at all. Those same talks picked back up on Saturday, though the story mostly stayed the same as almost no progress was reported as being made by the time markets opened back up today. Over the weekend, both sides of the debt restructuring talks met in Brussels and are reportedly on the opposite sides of the room as far as seeing eye-to-eye is concerned.
As a result, Greek bond yields have risen dramatically over the course of the past few weeks. Two-year Greek notes saw their yields rise to around 27% while ten-year bonds saw their yields move up to near 13%.
As these talks progress, it will be interesting to see how the Greek debt talks affect the global marketplace. As it stands, the lack of progress being made by the two sides has begun to cause investors to worry about Greece’s future as a member of the European Union. You see, if Greece does default on loan payments like so many people think they might, there is a strong possibility that they will be forced to leave the European Union. As has been the case for some time now, the situation in Greece is one that we will continue to keep a very close eye on as the year progresses.
China Reduces Banks’ RRR In Surprise Move
We are only little more than a week with being completely finished with one-third of the year. Having said that, there is a lot for us to reflect upon from economic and geopolitical standpoints. One of the biggest points of interest has been the extremely slow progress being made by the Chinese economy. Despite being expected to have a fairly solid 2015, the Asian giant has thus far failed to impress much of anyone. Economic report after report have painted the picture of an economy that is lagging behind by its own standards.
As a result of this scarce progress, the central bank of China, over the weekend, made moves to further stimulate their domestic economy. This time, the move made by China’s central bank was to reduce the reserve requirement ratio for domestic banks. By doing this, the central bank is hoping to encourage Chinese banks to lend more money to individuals and businesses. Though the market did not have much of a reaction to today’s central bank decision, it will be an important one to consider as we move forward.
Wrap-Up
All things considered, the week really got off to a slow start. Despite a firming USD Index and a monetary policy change in China, investors did not have all that much to reflect upon. What we do know, however, is that the technical posture of both gold and silver remains on the bearish side of things as investors quite simply aren’t interested in hanging on to safe-haven assets. As we look ahead to the rest of the week, I am not exactly expecting the pace of market activity to pick up, but I do anticipate that there will be plenty for investors to discuss and mull over through the next four days or so.
