Gold Spot Price Open: $1,131
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,152
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$21
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.35
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.56
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.21
Precious metals extended their rally on Thursday as the weekly jobless claims report came back a bit worse than what was expected. When all was said and done, gold managed to gain more than 20 dollars while silver picked up more than twenty cents. Platinum and palladium both also finished the day on the up and up, but Platinum was by far the bigger gainer of the two.
Weekly Jobless Claims Rise Above 275,000
One of the biggest and most important pieces of data comes every week in the form of the unemployment claims report. Recent history has shown that the employment situation in the US is continuing to improve, but today offered a bit of a setback thanks to jobless claims rising by 4,000 last week. Now, the seasonally adjusted average has ticked up to 277,000. This number is a bit off-putting, but realistically, today’s 4,000 rise was not all that far off what market experts had predicted.
The four-week moving average of weekly jobless claims moved up by more than 5,000, according to the report. This number is often seen as a more accurate depiction of the labor market, but like the weekly report it did not end up having all that much of an impact on the marketplace. For gold and silver, the somewhat sub-par employment data released today allowed for gains to continue. Now, the real question becomes just how long can precious metals extend the ongoing rally?
July Sees Uptick In Existing Home Sales
The upbeat housing data continued on Thursday thanks to another positive report regarding home sales in July. According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes moved upward by 2% during the month of July. This data complement the same report from June which also indicated a nice rise in the number of existing homes sold. Now, thanks to this July data, the seasonally adjusted has moved to nearly 5.6 million units sold. Considering the fact that experts were not expecting to see the seasonally adjusted average move above 5.5 million, today’s data is being perceived as wholly upbeat by the market. Surprisingly, however, the data has not had a chance to weigh on spot values today.
The good news just kept coming today because the NAR went on to announce that July’s sales rate was the fastest we have seen in more than 7 years. Laurence Yun, chief economist at the NAR, commented on the situation by saying, “The creation of jobs added at a steady clip and the prospect of higher mortgage rates and home prices down the road is encouraging more households to buy now. As a result, current homeowners are using their increasing housing equity towards the downpayment on their next purchase.”
All in all, the real estate market in the US is as hot now as it has been in the last decade, and this only adds to the belief that interest rates will be risen around this time next month.
Wrap-Up
Looking ahead to the last day of the week, it will be very interesting to see if gold and silver can end things on a positive note. The last few days have seen metals kick off a rally of sorts, but with little taking place in the marketplace to suggest that the market has gotten any less bearish, many are wondering just how far forward metals will be able to trek.
