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    JM Bullion Gold and Silver Market Update (12/22/15)

    Gold Spot Price Open: $1,083

    Gold Spot Price Close: $1,075

    Change in Gold Spot Price: -$8

    Silver Spot Price Open: $14.38

    Silver Spot Price Close: $14.34

    Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.04

    Precious metals were once again moving downward on what proved to be another slow day of holiday trading. When all was said and done, gold lost around eight dollars while silver finished the day having lost almost 5 cents. Platinum and palladium also managed to make small gains on the day, but neither metal was able to record more than ten dollars’ worth of gains.

    Slow Holiday Trading Sets In

    A major theme across the global marketplace this week will be the fact that there really isn’t much going on due to the impending Christmas and New Years holidays. While today was definitely a slow day of trading, it was not free from economic data. In the early morning hours, it was reported that US 2nd quarter GDP was up by 2% on an annualized basis. This revision was up from original readings which showed that US GDP grew by only 1.9% during the second quarter of this year.

    In addition to the second quarter revision, investors were greeted with an initial third quarter GDP reading that showed 2.1% annualized growth. In the wake of this data, the USD Index ticked up slightly, as did crude oil prices. Crude oil prices that were slightly higher on Tuesday are more than likely to thank for gold and silver having a non-negative day.

    Existing Home Sales Fall During November

    The US housing market, which has been home to some stellar economic figures of late, took a somewhat large hit during the month of November according to data released this morning. The National Association of Realtors announced on Tuesday that November existing home sales fell by more than 10% from October. The NAR went on to say that this was the poorest reading on existing home sales since April of 2014.

    As for annualized existing home sales, November of 2015’s figures were much lower than those of November 2014; down by 3.8% to be exact.

    While this data is assuredly enough to raise a few eyebrows, Lawrence Yun, of the NAR, cautioned that this data point may have more to do with the market adjusting to a new real estate rule than it does with an actual downturn on the part of the housing market. For those who are unaware, the “know before you owe rule” was something instituted less than a year ago, and basically deals with helping customers better understand the terms of their mortgage before actually committing to one.

    In his report, Yun said, “Signed contracts have remained mostly steady in recent months, and properties sold faster in November. Therefore it’s highly possible the stark sales decline wasn’t because of sudden, withering demand.” This is somewhat good news for investors who may have been taken aback by today’s housing data. Yun continued his statement by saying that “It’s possible the longer timeframes pushed a latter portion of would-be November transactions into December.” As we move through the last few weeks of December and into January, you can bet that we will be keeping a close eye on US housing data in order to see if there is a significant improvement from November’s data, something most people are anticipating.

    Wrap-Up

    Despite trading being mostly light on the day, we were dealt a healthy batch of US economic data. Unfortunately, due to the fewer quantity of people making trades and picking apart today’s data, we did not see all that much of a reaction to it. Tomorrow and Thursday are going to be equally as slow as today, and it will be interesting to see how precious metals fare during that time.

    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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