Gold Spot Price Open: $1,344
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,350
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$6
Silver Spot Price Open: $19.92
Silver Spot Price Close: $20.12
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.20
Precious metals continued to fare decently on Wednesday, but are finding it difficult to make sustained moves forward. When all was said and done, gold managed to gain about 6 dollars while silver improved by roughly 20 cents. Platinum and palladium both made nice gains early on in the day, but they evaporated by the time markets closed.
Weaker Dollar Aids Metals
There wasn’t a lot going on across the global marketplace on Wednesday, and the day began with most people from around the world continuing to pick apart the weaker than expected productivity report released by the United States on Tuesday. This report, which showed that worker productivity in the 2nd quarter declined, was not the biggest of news, but did well to dent hopes that the Fed will feel comfortable enough to raise rates at any point in the near future.
Because of the delayed reaction we saw from investors this morning, the US Dollar opened up the day immediately moving further and further downward.
Also helping precious metals today was the fact that crude oil’s spot value is taking hits left and right. A report today showed that US crude stockpiles are more plentiful than originally believed, and this is helping keep the commodity’s spot value subdued. Towards the middle of the day yesterday we received word of a possible OPEC meeting relating to a meeting that is said to be taking place sometime next month. As you could have probably guessed, the meeting will revolve around OPEC nations cutting their daily crude output. As you can also probably guess, judging from past meetings, no real resolution will be reached and investors are reacting to this possibility. Still, only time will tell if OPEC can get their act together and see eye to eye on a matter that affects every member-nation.
US Stocks Extend Slide
For a second consecutive day, US stocks performed in less than stellar fashion, this time thanks to the aforementioned news regarding crude oil supplies in the US. Fearing that perhaps other countries also have larger than expected stockpiles, energy stocks took a hit and took many other sectors down with them.
With not much over the next few days suggesting that the outlook on crude oil will change, it would come as no surprise to see energy stocks continue to take a hit. This, in all likelihood, will lend itself to precious metals’ spot values, at least through the end of the trading week.
Wrap-Up
So long as the trading days go as this one did, we are going to continue repeating that the action, or lack thereof, witnessed today is typical of a mid-August day. There is a very light economic data stream and even fewer noteworthy geopolitical events for investors to latch onto. Tomorrow will bring a bit of respite and see things get spiced up a bit by the weekly jobless claims report. Still, with this piece of data coming just days after July’s monthly employment data, there are doubts with regard to how much it will affect the market.
So long as things remain quiet over the last few days of the week, gold and silver may be able to eek out gains before things are brought to a close Friday afternoon. Still, without much data to influence movement, precious metals will more than likely only ever be able to make small gains. Of course, just one surprise piece of data or new piece of geopolitical drama could change the quiet nature of the global marketplace.
