Gold Spot Price Open: $1,060
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,067
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$7
Silver Spot Price Open: $14.17
Silver Spot Price Close: $14.18
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.01
Precious metals opened up this week having posted some gains, but both metals are at multi-year lows and are not looking much like improving anytime soon. When all was said and done on Monday, gold managed to add about 5 dollars while silver improved by a few pennies. Platinum and palladium extended declines to begin the week, though their declines were not anything drastic.
US Stocks Fail to Impress
US stocks did not do so well to begin the week, and many investors were content to hold their positions ahead of what is shaping up to be a week full of economic data. To be fair, today was marked by a general lack of activity thanks to the holiday hangover. Many Americans are still out of the office to begin this new week and it should come as no surprise that the US marketplace is a bit more uneventful than normal.
Of all the data that is expected to be published this week, few pieces are more important than November’s employment figures. Though most have already come to terms with the possibility of an interest rate hike before the end of December, this week’s economic data will play at least some role in determining what is really expected to happen to interest rates in the US. Apart from the jobs data, a slew of other reports are due out this week, and each one will be closely eyed by the market.
In addition to all of this focus on US markets, an all-important ECB meeting is expected to kick off and wrap up on Thursday and many investors are hoping to hear whether or not monetary policy across the EU will be altered or not. As it stands, a popular belief held by many investors is that the EU’s easy money policies will be expanded in order to further foster economic recovery. Many investors are hoping that this is the week where we finally find out what the future holds for monetary policy across Europe.
USD Continues Performing Well
Something that hasn’t changed much at all in recent days is the fact that the US Dollar is performing extremely well. Monday marked yet another day where the USD Index outperformed many rival currencies, and this is something that almost always limits the upside for gold and silver.
Now, how the Dollar fares throughout the rest of the week will rely heavily on the tone of economic data. Should US data continue to come back upbeat and better than the expectations of the market, you can expect the greenback to continue making gains. By day’s end, the USD was sitting around a 7-year high against the Euro but closed in on an 8-year high during the day. If things continue the way they have been the last few weeks, it may not be too long before the Euro and USD are on par with one another.
As for today’s economic data, things were generally light and uninteresting. Pending home sales in October were reported as being mostly unchanged from September, and this report failed to have much of an impact on the marketplace. As the week wears on, the data that is released will be increasingly heavily hawked over by investors both in the US and abroad.
Wrap-Up
All in all, Monday was a somewhat slow day across the global marketplace. With that being said, the next four days this week are sure to bring about a good bit of economic activity via the boatload of data that is expected to be released. The end of the week will bring month-end employment figures and that is easily the most important piece of data that will be dealt this 5-day trading session.
