Gold Spot Price Open: $1,326
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,337
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$11
Silver Spot Price Open: $21.92
Silver Spot Price Close: $22.01
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.09
Gold and silver made minor gains to begin the week on news of more civil unrest from Europe and Asia. When all was said and done on Monday, gold gained a little over ten dollars while silver improved by just barely less than a dime.
The main piece of news making headlines around the world today was the continuing civil unrest in Ukraine. After grudgingly attempting to end the protests and restore peace, Ukraine’s now ex-president Viktor Yanukovych is on the run and hiding from authorities. A warrant has now been issued for his arrest, though the real issue at hand is Ukraine’s failing economic system and how to restore order to the country of nearly 46 million. As Ukraine’s stability spins out of control, investors are continuing to avoid risk, fueling safe-haven demand for gold and silver.
Thailand is seeing its fair share of political violence as well. Attacks over the weekend have taken the lives of a few and have sent dozens others to the hospital. We will continue to monitor this situation in order to see if the violence picks up or if order can be restored before things become more unpredictable.
It was also made clear today that deflation worries in Europe are not completely gone, in fact, they may be worse than ever. On a monthly basis, inflation fell at its fastest rate since the EU began tracking the statistic. One report is not enough to undo the past few months of positive data regarding inflation levels in Europe, but it is definitely something that will have investors paying attention.
Finally, stocks around the world were put under pressure today thanks to a report from China saying that banks have cut back on lending to commercial property developers. This report only works to aid growing concerns with regard to the strength of the Chinese economy. Because China is the world’s largest consumer of precious metals on an annual basis, any signs of economic slowdown will undoubtedly work against the progress of spot gold and silver.