Gold Spot Price Open: $1,192
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,192
Change in Gold Spot Price: NO CHANGE
Silver Spot Price Open: $16.88
Silver Spot Price Close: $17.12
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.24
Silver bounced back on Friday and gold held its ground, but the week as a whole was somewhat disappointing for precious metals. When all was said and done on Friday, gold ended up losing a few dollars at first but finished even while silver picked up more than 20 cents. Platinum finished the day not having moved entirely too much, but both metals gained in the neighborhood of ten dollars apiece.
US GDP Data Shows Slow End of 2016
Though many people were under the impression that 2016 was the best year of economic growth the US has seen in quite some time, it actually proved to be the worst year since 2011. The final day of this week brought about some sobering US economic data that investors are still digesting. For the final 3 months of 2016, the US economy grew by just 1.9%. If you compare that to Q3’s 3.5% growth, it is clear to see that the end of the year did the US economy no favors. Playing a major role in this was the weaker holiday season reported by retailers. Once again, people were under the impression that holiday spending would be better than what was recorded in previous years, however that did not prove to be the case.
For 2016 as a whole, the GDP growth mirrored what was recorded in the final quarter. Officially, the economy grew by 1.9% over 12 months. This was weaker than 2015’s 2.5% growth.
Adding to the dour news on Friday was a December durable goods orders report which showed that durable goods orders fell by .4%. Expectations were for those orders to see a month over month rise of almost 2.5%, so this was a fairly large miss. Despite this, the Dow Jones managed to move forward for the third day in a row.
On its surface, the data dished out on Friday seems like it would be beneficial for precious metals, but the reality of things is that stocks are still doing quite well both in the US and abroad. As such, gold still lost some value. Silver bounced back above the $17/ounce threshold, but the week as a whole did not do precious metals much of any favors.
Dollar Continues Bounce Back
Apart from the economic data dealt on Friday, there wasn’t all that much else for investors to talk about. Another factor that did limit any upside potential on the part of precious metals is the stronger US Dollar.
The USD Index has spent a good majority of January moving further and further downward, so today’s gains were a nice little respite of sorts. So long as the prospect of higher interest rates remains on the table, it is highly likely that the Dollar will continue performing well. This is not a guarantee by any stretch, but it seems to be the way things have been going as of late.
Wrap-Up
As we look ahead to next week, you can bet that we will be gearing up for even more US economic data releases. As the first month of the year comes to an end, investors will be looking for clues as to what the future holds for US economic policy and more. Donald Trump will still be in the news, that much is for certain. What this means for the marketplace, that much is difficult to determine. He has so far been seen as beneficial for equities, but that is something that can change in a matter of minutes.
