Gold Spot Price Open: $1,172
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,177
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$5
Silver Spot Price Open: $16.79
Silver Spot Price Close: $17.09
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.30
Though this is something we haven’t said in a while, precious metals actually managed to gain some ground on Wednesday. When all was said and done, gold ended up adding about 5 dollars while silver added 30 cents on the day. Platinum and palladium finished the day mixed, with platinum picking up 10 dollars while palladium fell by 5.
Metals Gain as Investors Await ECB
Ahead of the ECB meeting, stocks in the US and Europe are trending downwards and temporarily giving precious metals room to venture forward somewhat. Before day’s end, however, US stock indexes bounced back by decent margins.
Another aspect of the marketplace that is providing gold and silver some support is the fact that next week’s supposed interest rate hike is something that has already been priced in by investors. What this means, for all intents and purposes, is that the rate hike has happened in the eyes of investors and now they are looking forward to other piece of information, such as how drastically rates will be hiked. Add this to the fact that the US Dollar performed weaker today, and the stars have aligned to create the first decent day of trading for precious metals that we have seen in quite some time.
At this point in time and likely going forward, movement on the part of precious metals is something that will be more than likely dictated by the movement of the US Dollar. If the Dollar backs off like it did today, metals are going to have more room to move forward. With that being said, however, the biggest problem has much less to do with gains and much more to do with sustaining those gains. There are so many bearish factors at work across the global marketplace that simply holding on to made gains is something that has proven difficult. Without that likely to change anytime soon, it seems almost inevitable that gains one day will be reverted by losses the next. Once this interest rate talk all blows over perhaps that will change, but that is the situation precious metals investors are currently dealing with.
All Eyes on the ECB
When the ECB meeting kicks off and comes to a conclusion on Thursday, the one and only thing investors are going to want to find out is what is going to happen to the quantitative easing program currently working to devalue the euro and spur regional growth. At this point in time we are certain that we are going to hear something about the asset-purchasing program, but no one knows if that something will be a reduction, a boost, or if things will be kept steady.
If there are no changes and things are, in fact, kept moving forward at their current rate, the real question will be for how long. This program has been in place for well over a year now and, quite frankly, the expected results are not panning out as far as economic growth is concerned. The Euro making gains during the early parts of this week might suggest that investors are beginning to think that a QE deadline will be announced and that the program will be halted sooner than later. Of course, there is very little evidence that actually supports this claim so we will just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.
Wrap-Up
All told, Wednesday proved to be the quietest day of trading we have seen thus far this week. Tomorrow will see not only economic data dealt, but also the conclusion of the ECB meeting and what is shaping up to be a big announcement regarding the future of monetary policy for the region. It will be interesting to see if gold and silver can hang on to their gains, however there are not many people who think this is very likely.