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    JM Bullion Gold and Silver Market Update (11/3/16)

    Gold Spot Price Open: $1,308

    Gold Spot Price Close: $1,305

    Change in Gold Spot Price: -$3

    Silver Spot Price Open: $18.71

    Silver Spot Price Close: $18.32

    Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.39

    Precious metals conceded some value on Thursday after the first half of the week yielded nice gains. When all was said and done, gold ended up losing about 3 dollars while silver conceded about 39 cents. Platinum and palladium both conceded value on Thursday at first, but by day’s end finished in more or less the same position they were in when things got underway.

    FOMC Minutes Fail to Alter Rate Hike Expectations

    Now that the world has had time to digest it, it is clear to see that the FOMC is holding firm in their position regarding rate hikes. In the post-meeting statement delivered yesterday afternoon, investors were told that “the committee judges that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has continued to strengthen but decided, for the time being, to wait for some further evidence of continued progress toward its objectives.”

    In essence, and without putting it in so many words, the Fed is saying that they would like to continue analyzing US and global economic data as it is dealt in order to determine if rate hikes are, in fact, the direction monetary policy must head in. What’s more, the US presidential election–which is less than a week away–is something that definitely needs to be set in stone before a move as drastic as rate hikes can be pursued. Metals did edge off their daily highs on Wednesday and ended up opening the day Thursday lower primarily because so many investors believe that, without actually saying it, the Fed is still shooting for a December rate hike.

    All Eyes on Non-Farms Data

    Now that the FOMC meeting is behind us, investors the world over are concerning themselves with what Friday’s Non-Farms payrolls growth data will look like. The month of October saw jobless claims mostly stay in check, and while this doesn’t necessarily mean the overall number of jobs increased, it does point to a job market that is continuing to stay healthy.

    As it stands, polled experts are calling for about 175,000 Non-Farms jobs to have been created last month. This is a middle of the road projection and one that most see as achievable. With that being said, even a miss to the low side is not something that would severely dent interest rate hike expectations. At this point, it is going to take something much more significant than one month of poor job growth for the case for interest rate hikes to be thrown out. With many voting members of the FOMC and Federal Reserve bank presidents coming out and vocally supporting a December rate hike, this is the most confident we have been in a while that they will actually come before year’s end.

    At the end of the day, however, the results of next week’s elections are going to have the most bearing on rate hikes. The way most people see it, a Clinton victory sees hikes go through in December as expected. A Trump victory, on the other hand, is something that may cause the Fed to rethink their position. With the radical changes Trump has made it clear that he plans on pursuing if and when he takes office, the Fed may have no choice but to postpone them even further.

    Wrap-Up

    All in all, Thursday prepped the market for what will be the biggest data release of the week on Friday. What will be interesting to see, regardless of what the job growth figures show, is how heavily the investing world weighs the Non-Farms data. Apart from that, it will be intriguing to see if spot values can hang on and finish having posted gain over this 5-day trading session.

    Disclaimer: All Market Updates are provided as a third party analysis and do not necessarily reflect the explicit views of JM Bullion Inc. and should not be construed as financial advice.

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