Gold Spot Price Open: $1,284
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,288
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$4
Silver Spot Price Open: $17.44
Silver Spot Price Close: $17.35
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.09
Gold and silver ended up inching forward on the day, but did not make anything that can be perceived as impressive gains. When all was said and done, gold ended up gaining about 4 dollars while silver moved downward by nearly 10 cents. Platinum and palladium also lost on Tuesday, with platinum gaining close to ten dollars while palladium lost almost 20.
BRExit and Interest Rate Speculation Continue
Though this should not really come as a surprise to much of anyone, a lack of fresh markets-moving news ended up seeing investors continue to focus on much of the same things. With the FOMC meeting kicking off today, investors will be interested to see what, if anything, will come as a result. Only a few weeks ago investors the world over were convinced that tomorrow would bring about the first interest rate hike in more than 6 months, but a shockingly poor piece of economic data delivered a few weeks ago ended up altering that school of thought entirely.
While this altered view of the future of interest rates in the US has helped gold and silver, what is really coming to the aid of precious metals lately is the fact that the United Kingdom very well might choose to leave the European Union within two weeks. A referendum vote is scheduled for the last week of June, and the vote will basically ask whether citizens prefer that the UK remains part of the EU or leave. Being that the “leave” camp appears to be gaining momentum, so too is gold and silver.
As for the next week or so, metals will be in good standing so long as interest rates are expected to be kept at their current levels and so long as the United Kingdom is expected to depart the EU. Barring these two points of focus, there hasn’t been much of anything new or noteworthy for investors to pay too much attention to.
Retail Sales Jump Upward in May
The Commerce Department announced on Tuesday that May’s retail sales came back better than expected. Officially, retail sales in May moved upward on a month-to-month basis by .5%. Adding this to 1.3% retail sales improved by during April, and that marks two consecutive month of upbeat data. This is especially true when you consider that expectations for May retail sales were for gains of .3%.
Now, you might be thinking that this piece of data could lend itself to interest rates being hiked at the conclusion of the FOMC meeting tomorrow, but that still does not seem very likely. By most accounts, investors have come to terms with the fact that rates will be kept at their current levels and, even if this weren’t the case, any data released today is likely coming too late to really alter how the Fed feels as well as how they alter monetary policy. Still, it is encouraging to see that the US economy can still put forth positive numbers, even when the current outlook is far from positive.
Wrap-Up
There wasn’t much moving across the global marketplace as investors hunkered down in order to see what, if anything, will come as a result of this week’s meeting. Come tomorrow afternoon there will assuredly be a bustle of activity across the global marketplace, but I do not think that we will be on the receiving end of any unexpected news. With that much being said, anything can happen, so it is important to keep an eye and ear out for any commentary or remarks from Janet Yellen or any other members of the Fed.
