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    JM Bullion Gold and Silver Market Update (12/2/16)

    Gold Spot Price Open: $1,175

    Gold Spot Price Close: $1,179

    Change in Gold Spot Price: +$4

    Silver Spot Price Open: $16.65

    Silver Spot Price Close: $16.67

    Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.02

    Gold and silver began the day conceding value, but it did not take entirely too long for some short-covering to come into play and help lift spot values. When all was said and done on Friday, gold ended up gaining about 4 dollars while silver finished about 2 cents better than it started. Platinum and palladium finished the day mixed, with platinum picking up roughly 12 dollars while palladium ended up down by 9 dollars.

    Jobs Data In Line with Expectations

    The biggest piece of data delivered during the second half of this week came this morning in the form of the non-farm payrolls growth report for November. On Thursday, we were on the receiving end of a second consecutive rise in weekly jobless claims. While this data did not do much to influence how investors felt about US employment or the potential for interest rate hikes in the coming weeks, it did give investors something to think about.

    Today, the Department of Labor announced that November saw the addition of roughly 178,000 non-farm jobs to the economy. This was considered to be in line with expectations, which estimated that November saw the creation of 180,000 jobs. As far as how this data affected precious metals, the truth of the matter is that it really didn’t. Investors are still convinced that interest rates will be hiked by the time this month’s FOMC meeting comes to an end, and it is going to now take a lot to undo those expectations. For gold and silver, today’s bounce from weekly lows was a good thing, but it is really nothing to write home about as metals are still on the receiving end of a lot of bearish data and sentiment.

    Finally, even despite today’s non-farms data falling just slightly short of expectations, the overall unemployment rate in the US fell to a 9-year low of 4.6%. In many ways, and for many people, this alone solidifies the Fed’s license to raise rates this month. Though we are still a few weeks away from the Fed meeting, talk of rate hikes is something that is sure to dominate proceedings between now and the end of the month.

    European Markets Mixed Ahead of Big Weekend for Italy

    European stocks were choppy as ever on Friday as the continent geared up for what is, truthfully, a very important referendum in Italy. By the time markets open up on Monday, we will more than likely know who will be the country’s next prime minister, and this is something that has massive implications for the country’s top banks.

    Investors are unsure of which way the referendum will go and that was typified perfectly by the type of trading activity we saw on the day. In fact, there is a chance that Monday will roll around without all of the votes having been counted. If that is the case, you can bet that Monday’s headlines will be dominated by speculation with regard to who will emerge victorious. Regardless of who wins, we will be keeping a close eye on the referendum now and in the coming days/weeks.

    Wrap-Up

    The closing of markets today marks yet another week where precious metals moved backwards much more often than they moved forward. Most anticipate that next week will bring more of the same with regard to the action of precious metals, and it is difficult to argue that so long as rate hike expectations are what they are presently. We are bound to begin next week with plenty of talking points, but the general feeling is that the bearish market gold and silver find themselves in will remain exactly the same.

    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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