Gold Spot Price Open: $1,158
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,157
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$1
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.54
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.43
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.11
Precious metals extended their losses on Tuesday, mostly thanks to a lack of any fundamental markets-moving data. When all was said and done, gold lost a few dollars while silver moved downward by more than ten cents. Platinum and palladium also lost on the day, but loses did not exceed 10 dollars.
Iran Reaches Deal with Western Nations
The big news reverberating around the marketplace today was that Iran was able to reach a deal with Western nations regarding its nuclear ambitions. After months and months of negotiations, Iranian leaders and leaders from Western nations were finally able to see eye to eye. In exchange for stricter control of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Western nations have agreed to lift sanctions–many of which have been crippling the Iranian economy. Though there still remains a lot of questions with regard to the exact finalized details of the deal, Iran is celebrating this as a victory.
For nations like Saudi Arabia and Israel, countries that are the United States’ closest allies in the Middle East, this deal is a nightmare coming to fruition. israel sees Iran’;s ambitions as being striclty with regard to securing a nuclear weapon, while Saudi Arabia’s feelings are none too different.
The prevailing belief before this deal was reached was that a deal such as this one would mean for cheaper crude oil prices. The reason for this is due to the fact that Iranian oil, which hasn’t been allowed on many Western markets for years, may now be allowed to be traded. This may cause the price of oil to take a dip, but so far the wake of this meeting has not seen oil prices retreat all that much at all. Going forward, it will be interesting to see what the finalized details of this deal will be.
Dollar Loses Momentum on Weak Retail Sales
A surprise drop in June retail sales was reported by the US Commerce Department on Tuesday, and this news took the market by surprise. Against the Yen and the euro, the US Dollar declined by decent margins on Tuesday. For gold and silver, this was not bad news at all and likely contributed to losses being much smaller than they could have been otherwise.
On an annualized basis, US retail sales slipped by three tenth’s of a percentage point during June. This is the weakest reading the US has seen since February and was not at all expected by investors. Gas, construction materials, and food services all moved in a negative direction during the month of June and played a major role in the decline of retail sales. Compared to expectations of an increase in retail sales of .2%, these numbers were naturally quite disappointing. This report follows June’s weak employment report and casts a negative light on recently upbeat US economic data. While this much might lead people to believe that spot values may be boosted, such has not come to fruition up to this point.
Wrap-Up
Looking ahead to the last few days of the week, I do not expect to see a major influx of economic data. Investors will be interested to see the outcome of tomorrow’s Greek parliamentary vote regarding the deal Athens reportedly agreed to with creditors on Monday. This will likely be tomorrow’s biggest story as well as the story most likely to move markets.
