Gold Spot Price Open: $1,251
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,220
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$31
Silver Spot Price Open: $19.99
Silver Spot Price Close: $19.22
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.77
Gold and silver took decent hits to start what is shaping up to be a fairly busy week for investors the world over. When markets closed on Monday, gold lost over thirty dollars and silver declined by just over 75 cents.
A stronger US Dollar thanks to some upbeat economic news more or less doomed gold from the start on Monday. Not only that, but as investors latch on firmer to the notion that the US Federal Reserve may reduce Quantitative Easing in the near future, the spot values of gold and silver continue to decline further. Apart from a stronger Dollar and technical selling of gold and silver, Monday brought with it few economic news stories, though the same cannot be said about the rest of the week.
On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its latest beige book readings; something that will give investors a clearer image regarding economic activity and growth in the United States. The following day, Thursday, is when the European Central Bank is scheduled to have its monthly policy meeting. Though no changes out of the ECB are expected, investors will be interested in what ECB president Mario Draghi has to say about the early implications of the recently lowered key lending rate in Europe.
Finally, Friday of this week is when the latest US jobs data is scheduled to be released to the public. Hopes are high in the camp of those expecting QE to be tapered in the near future, and with recent jobs figures coming in in impressive fashion, many are already expecting this week’s data to be indicative of an increasingly strengthening economy in the United States. Stock markets in the US remained steady on Monday as investors are awaiting the official retail reports from this past weekend’s holiday shopping. Early reports are saying that this past weekend’s numbers are the poorest they have been in a few years, contrary to reports which were circulating earlier this weekend.
