Gold Spot Price Open: $1,193
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,181
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$12
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.90
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.79
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.11
For gold and silver, it was much of the same on Friday as some persistent factors continue to weigh on the spot values of gold and silver. When all was said and done, gold lost more than ten dollars while silver declined by little more than ten cents. Platinum and palladium both lost on the day as well, though platinum’s losses were the steeper of the two.
Time Is Running Out for Greece
All week long and for much of last week, the market has paid close attention to ongoing debt talks taking place between the Greek government and officials from both the EU and the IMF. Very little progress has been made with regard to these talks, and if something doesn’t change soon the investing world may soon have to face the harsh reality that Greece’s days as a member of the European Union are numbered.
European Central Bank president Mario Draghi commented on the situation and made it very clear that the Greek government is running out of time. Greek bond yields have skyrocketed in recent days, mostly thanks to the growing belief that Greece will default on debt repayments and, in turn, will be forced out of the European Union. Other, safe-haven European bonds have seen their yields move downward due to increased interest on the part of investors who are convinced Greece will soon be ushered out of the EU. Of course, as time moves forward, we will continue to keep a close eye on anything and everything taking place regarding these Greek debts talks.
Dollar Pulls Back a Bit
The US Dollar was reported as having pulled back a little during the last few days of the week. Recently, the greenback has traded more sideways than anything else and while this may seem like good news for gold and silver, the reality could not be further from the truth. Metals have thus far failed to react to the Dollar’s leveling out and have stuck with their downward trajectory over the last few weeks.
Part of the reason it was so difficult for metals to make gains in the wake of the Dollar’s downturn is due to the fact that crude oil prices suffered a bit of a pullback on Friday. After surpassing a more than 4-month high on Thursday, it only makes sense that oil suffered a bit of a corrective pullback.
Wrap-Up
Looking ahead to next week, you can bet that both the ongoing Greek debt talks and upcoming FOMC meeting will consume investors’ attention. As far as the Greek debts talks are concerned, investors are looking for any amount of progress to be made considering the fact that almost nothing constructive has taken place. From the FOMC meeting, as is typically the case, investors are wanting to hear more information regarding when interest rate hikes in the United States will take place. As has been the case for the past few months now, the market is more or less evenly split with some investors thinking that rate hikes will take place this summer while others do not believe they will come until sometime next year. I personally am not expecting to hear all that much regarding interest rates from the upcoming FOMC meeting.
