Gold Spot Price Open: $1,167
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,170
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$3
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.72
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.77
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.05
Precious metals had room to venture forward today, but movement was sparse and not at all notable. When all was said and done, gold managed to gain roughly 3 dollars while silver added just about 5 cents. Platinum and palladium were both down on the day, with palladium being the bigger loser of the two.
Softer Dollar, Holiday Trading
As expected, there wasn’t much going on in US dealings thanks to most people taking the day off in order to get a jump start on holiday celebrations. The US Dollar trended noticeably downward on Friday in response to Thursday’s somewhat disappointing non-farms payrolls figures. In case you missed it, Thursday saw the Labor Department announce that fewer than 225,000 new jobs were created during the month of June. Not only that, but jobs figures from both April and May were revised downward to the tune of 60,000. The softer Dollar definitely contributed to metals’ small gains, and helped end an otherwise poor week on a positive note.
Next week is sure to be a bit more eventful than this one simply because of all the quarter-end economic data that is expected to be made public. With recent economic data from the US being as upbeat as it has been, I am not so sure that next week’s data stream will do precious metals any favors. That much, however, remains to be seen.
Focus Turns to Greek Referendum
As if it weren’t already obvious, the focus of the marketplace has turned to the Greek referendum vote, scheduled for Sunday. Early indications show that Greek citizens are fairly evenly split with regard to whether they want to accept austerity measures and remain in the EU, or if they want to forge their own path as an independent European nation.
This whole week has seen the marketplace focus on Greece, but now we are finally seeing some developments that may result in lasting changes. Realistically, this whole Greek situation is one that will only be around for a short while longer. Most market experts do not foresee it being anything other than a short-term headache, and definitely do not see it as something that should dictate the investing future of most investors. While it has created a lot of uncertainty and has done to shine a light on a situation most people know very little about, its actual consequences for the European and global economies is not expected to be anything great.
Wrap-Up
All in all, this week has been a forgettable one for gold and silver. Technical selling recently has results in consistent losses piling up day in and day out; losses that have brought spot values well below key price points. Looking ahead, it is difficult to say whether conditions will improve for gold and silver or not. So long as US economic data remains on the upbeat side of things, it is likely that metals will continue to suffer, though this much is assuredly not a guarantee.
