Gold Spot Price Open: $1,180
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,175
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$5
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.76
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.79
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.03
Precious metals mostly held their positions on Tuesday, as a general lack of fresh fundamental news continues to have a somewhat negative affect on spot values. When all was said and done, gold finished down by about 5 dollars while silver gained somewhere in the neighborhood of a few pennies. Platinum and palladium finished the day mixed, but neither metal closed too far from where they opened.
Canadian Economy Emits Poor Spring Results
You know there is a general lack of fresh economic news when one of the day’s top stories revolves around poor economic data from Canada. According to Statistics Canada, the Canadian economy continued along its slide in April and has been moving in a negative direction for a majority of the year. According to SC, the official GDP of Canada over the course of March into April fell by .1% despite predictions for a somewhat lofty rise. The most notable aspect of this dip came from the oil industry, which saw outputs shrink dramatically due to the relatively low price of oil as well as a few other factors.
Though poor performance on the part of the Canadian economy does not necessarily affect what is happening in the US, it is definitely something for investors to keep an eye on. Now that we have made it through the Spring months and are into the middle of Summer, most economists are expecting the mood of economic data from Canada to receive a lift. With the value of crude oil having rebounded from winter’s lows, I cannot imagine that Canada’s economic data will continue to lag.
US Consumer Confidence Grows
According to the US Conference Board, consumer confidence in the United States in June rose at rates that were not expected. According to the Board, the US Consumer Confidence Index rose up above 101.4 during June; up from 94.6 in May.
According to Lynn Franco of the US Conference Board, “Consumer confidence improved further in June, following a modest gain in May. Over the past two months, consumers have grown more confident about the current state of business and employment conditions. In addition, they are now more optimistic about the near-term future, although sentiment regarding income prospects is little changed. Overall, consumers are in considerably better spirits and their renewed optimism could lead to a greater willingness to spend in the near-term.”
Clearly, the overall outlook on the US economy is continuing to improve as the Summer moves forward. This much was expected, but economists were also expecting upbeat economic readings through the first half of the year and data did not live up to expectations. So long as the news remains on the positive side of things regarding the US economy, I anticipate that it will be sooner rather than later when the Fed decides to hike interest rates.
Wrap-Up
For the first time in the last few weeks, there wasn’t much to talk about with regard to the Greece situation. While the clock is still ticking towards a Greek exit from the Eurozone, that much remains to be confirmed. As we head into the latter stages of the week we will continue to focus on Europe at the same time as we receive quarter-end economic data from the US. With the July 4th holiday happening this weekend, I do not expect that we will receive a bulk of the data until sometime midweek next week.
