Gold Spot Price Open: $1,178
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,153
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$25
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.85
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.65
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.20
Gold and silver spot values pegged downward for yet another day, giving back around half of the gains made at the end of last week. When all was said and done, gold lost around 25 dollars while silver was down by about twenty cents. Platinum and palladium traded down today as well, both by well over $10.
Bright Start to Week Dims Quickly
Last Friday saw gold and silver add a good bit of value, even in the wake of what was otherwise a week full of bearish news and economic happenings. Beginning today, spot values first flirted with making even more gains, but spent most of the morning moving sideways. Shortly thereafter, however, two outside markets, crude oil and the USD Index, started working against the prospects of gold and silver.
By afternoon, the price of crude oil was once again dropping while the USD Index pegged higher. Though this news is not out of the ordinary for the past few weeks, it was disheartening to see gold and silver’s gains be so short-lived.
Stocks Record Gains As Risk-Appetite Grows
Not helping gold and silver at all was the fact the major US stock indexes traded upwards for almost all of Monday. Putting the positive day on Wall Street into perspective is the fact that both the Dow and S&P 500 closed at record-highs. As it stands, there is a growing sense of risk-appetite amongst investors, and that is only pushing stocks further upward.
A report today from the S&P 500 only worked to fuel that risk appetite as it painted a picture of a very positive third-quarter with regard to corporate earnings. 90% of S&P-listed companies have reported, and of that 90%, just shy of 75% have reported earnings that beat the expectations of Wall Street analysts. In an average quarter, it is expected that more than 60% of companies’ earnings beat expectations, so today’s report was seen as especially upbeat.
Russian Ruble Stabilizes After Recent Decline
In news from the early morning hours, a report from Russia said that the Ruble has stabilized after taking a massive tumble last week. Much of today’s stabilization came as a direct result of Russia’s central bank announcing that it will do what it can in the currency markets to keep the Ruble stable. Unfortunately for the futures of both the Ruble and the Russian economy in general, both the UK and the US announced today that they are joining the EU’s recent threat to tighten sanctions. As it stands, Western-imposed economic sanctions on Russia have hurt the Russian economy and are making matters there worse with each passing month.
In speeches that took place just moments apart today, UK PM David Cameron as well as US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki pointed the finger at Russia when it came to answering the question of how rebels in Eastern Ukraine are arming themselves. Despite these accusations, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied any and all military involvement in Ukraine.
Wrap-Up
Today was a fairly quiet day, all things considered. As the week progresses there will be a good amount of economic and geopolitical happenings for investors to discuss, but very few of them will have any major impact on the market. For the foreseeable future, I would not at all be surprised to see continued attention being paid to currency and equity markets, as well as a keen eye kept on the progress, of lack thereof, of crude oil prices.