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    JM Bullion Gold and Silver Market Update (7/17/14)

    Gold Spot Price Open: $1,301

    Gold Spot Price Close: $1,320

    Change in Gold Spot Price: +$19

    Silver Spot Price Open: $20.81

    Silver Spot Price Close: $21.23

    Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.42

    Precious metals ended Thursday much better than where they started thanks to some fresh geopolitical tensions from Ukraine and Russia. When all was said and done, gold picked up more than $15 while silver’s gains came in just over 40 cents. Platinum and palladium also traded higher today, fueled by fresh worries with regard to future supplies of both metals.

    Malaysia Airlines Flight Down, Presumed to be Shot by Missiles

    What began as a relatively quiet Thursday quickly erupted into one of the biggest days of the week once a story broke with regard to another Malaysia Airlines flight crashing. For the second time in only a few months, confirmed reports are saying that a Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam bound for Kuala Lumpur and carrying 295 people crashed somewhere near the Ukrainian, Russian border.

    Early speculation held that the plane was shot down by missiles from the ground, and after some time, this speculation was confirmed. Now, while the world knows, with some degree of certainty, what happened to the plane, the search has just now begun to determine who was behind this horrid act. As everyone was clambering to get further word on just what caused this tragedy to happen, the market delved into a state of panic and worry. In a part of the world where tensions are already escalated, this situation is only makes things that much worse.

    Shortly after the plane’s crashing was reported, US stock indexes declined sharply across the board. Renewed safe-haven demand for precious metals struck almost instantly and drove the spot values of platinum, gold, silver, and palladium all higher. Officially, gold has gained more than 1% today alone. As we head into the final day of the week, investors and market analysts alike will want to stay tuned in order to find out as much information as humanly possible about this tragedy.

    Palladium Supply Worries Resurface

    While palladium’s 1% gain today can be attributed, in part, to the Malaysia Airlines incident, worries with regard to the supply of the metal in the US are what really caused the metal’s price to surge forward. Just today it was announced that the United States, via Barack Obama, would be imposing new sanctions on Russian businesses as a result of the Kremlin’s inability to prevent violence and tensions from spiraling out of control in Ukraine.

    News of the fresh sanctions spread quickly and caused the value of palladium to skyrocket. The metal, which is chiefly sourced from Russia, may be harder to come by in the forthcoming months and has caused investors to grab hold of as much palladium as humanly possible.

    Thomas Capalbo, precious metals trader at Newedge, was quoted today as saying, “Palladium is feeding off supply worries as the US imposed new sanctions on Russia, and gold is also getting support on the news at above $1,300 an ounce.” So long as Russia, the US, and the rest of Europe are not seeing eye to eye, the supply of palladium stemming from Russia may be seriously reduced over the next few months.

    The US Dollar also declined today in response to the newly imposed sanctions, but its losses were marginal and mostly ignored by the market.

    Wrap-Up

    As we venture into the final trading day of the week, the eyes of the world will be fixated on Ukraine and the search for answers regarding this latest Malaysia Airlines incident. It will be interesting to see if continued uneasiness across the global marketplace will drive precious metals forward, or if things will calm down on the final day of the week.

    Disclaimer: All Market Updates are provided as a third party analysis and do not necessarily reflect the explicit views of JM Bullion Inc. and should not be construed as financial advice.

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