Gold Spot Price Open: $1,225
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,236
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$11
Silver Spot Price Open: $17.45
Silver Spot Price Close: $17.54
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.09
Precious metals used the slow holiday Monday in the United States to add even more value. When all was said and done, gold picked up more than ten dollars while silver’s gains were more modest; around 10 cents. Both palladium and platinum added a few dollars today as well.
Safe-Haven Demand Shines on Columbus Day
After recent stock market volatility in the United States as well as a growing belief that interest rates will now not be raised until September 2015 (at the earliest), precious metals have really benefited from a growing sense of risk-aversion. Today didn’t bring about any new economic news from the United States because all government offices were closed in observance of the Columbus Day holiday.
One of the biggest factors helping gold and silver is the fact that the US Dollar traded noticeably downward for a majority of the day. Almost always, it is the US Dollar that posits itself as one of the biggest and most influential factors on the precious metals market. When the Dollar is up, gold and silver tend to decline, and vice versa. With last week’s FOMC minutes convincing the market that interest rates are still a long way from being risen, it is no surprise that the US Dollar has declined and that precious metals, which began last week at multi-week lows, are taking advantage.
Decent Chinese Data Hits the Market
In recent weeks, the economic data stemming from China has been sub-par, to say the least. Today brought about a bit of respite from recently poor data as it was reported that import prices rose by 7% during September and that exports were up 15% for the period. As the largest importer of raw commodities, this kind of good news is beneficial for all raw commodities, including gold and silver.
Wrap-Up
All in all, Monday was a very quiet day from an economic perspective. The fact that both the US and Canada were celebrating holidays kept things mostly subdued, though this ended up working as an uplifting factor for precious metals. As we look ahead to the rest of the week, all eyes will be on both the USD Index as well as major US stock markets. The recent volatility on the part of US equities has been worrisome for investors and has been a major contributing factor to the recent uptick in investor interest in gold and silver.