Gold Spot Price Open: $1,185
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,194
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$9
Silver Spot Price Open: $16.35
Silver Spot Price Close: $16.58
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.23
Gold and silver spot values gained on Tuesday thanks to a sharp sell-off of the US Dollar as well as some jitters that are beginning to spread across the global marketplace. When all was said and done on Tuesday, gold managed to gain close to ten dollars while silver was up by more than 20 cents. Platinum and palladium also gained today, though their gains were more negligible than anything else.
Treasuries, Bonds Selling Off at Rapid Rate
Something that has become a bit of a theme recently is the fact that bonds across the world are being sold off at a rapid rate. Now, as of today, European, Japanese, and US bond markets have come under a lot of selling pressure; pressure that is even beginning to spill over onto equity markets. Today saw US stocks trade downward across the board as worries regarding bond markets are causing investors to question the stability of the wider global market at present. Thanks to all this focus on pressured bond markets, gold and silver were able to derive a bit of a safe-haven boost today.
As the week plays out, it will be interesting to see how gold and silver react to continued focus on bonds. What might continue coming to the aid of metals, however, is the fact that crude oil prices have been on the up and up recently. Today saw the spot value of oil tick up even further, and this is a great sign for all commodities, but especially gold and silver.
Euro Surges on Greece News
Yesterday, the big concern on the part of investors was whether or not Greece would be able to make its next debt payment, scheduled for today. The 750 million euro payment was due today and, to the surprise of everyone, was made by the Greeks. Because of this news, the Euro made significant gains against a US Dollar that seems to be in a bit of a rut at present. The worry as of yesterday was that Greece was not going to be able to make this payment, ushering in the possibility of Greece being ousted from the European Union.
Though Greece’s debt problems are far from resolved, this was a nice sign of progress. It will be interesting to see, as debt payments begin to come in hot and heavy, if Greece is able to keep up with them. Though attention may be fading from the situation surrounding Greek debt now, this is definitely something we will be keeping tabs on throughout the rest of the Spring and Summer.
Wrap-Up
As we look ahead to Wednesday and the rest of the week, it will be interesting to see what the next three days have in store for gold and silver. There isn’t much in the way of major economic developments expected to be talked about over the next few days, so I imagine gold and silver will be most heavily influenced by the price action of the USD, equities, and bond markets. Gold and silver have thus far posted mixed results through two days this week, and I do not think the next three days will be all that much different from the first two.
