Gold Spot Price Open: $1,286
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,305
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$19
Silver Spot Price Open: $19.90
Silver Spot Price Close: $20.01
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.11
Gold and silver posted solid gains to close out what has been a fairly busy week from an economic data standpoint. When all was said and done, gold gained nearly 20 dollars on Friday while silver added a little more than ten cents.
Today yielded what most would consider the most important piece of economic data this week, March’s non-farm payrolls data. When it was released earlier in the day, the data showed that 192,000 new jobs were added to the US economy last month. This fell short of the 200,000+ payrolls addition that the market was expecting to see after Janet Yellen very recently touted the the rate of job growth in the United States. The weaker than expected employment report gave spot gold and silver a boost while simultaneously driving down most US equities.
The unemployment rate remained steady at 6.7% despite expectations that it would fall to 6.6%. Though the payrolls data from March was slightly weaker than expected, it is important to keep in mind that 192,000 new jobs added to the economy is the largest such monthly increase this year.
Looking ahead to next week, gold and silver may be able to receive a further boost from bargain-hunting buying and further digestion of today’s jobs data. There is an off chance that today’s downbeat data may make the Fed rethink its current course of tapering, but that is not very likely at all. As it stands, spot gold is hovering just above $1,300 threshold as silver is sitting just barely above the $20 mark. Many investors are hoping to see metals hold or improve upon these positions, but if next week yields the same lack of bullish news we have seen over the course of the past 2 there is no guarantee that these spot values will hold.
