Gold Spot Price Open: $1,343
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,331
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$12
Silver Spot Price Open: $22.03
Silver Spot Price Close: $21.32
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.71
Gold and silver both posted decent losses on Wednesday as profit-taking was a key factor driving spot values down. When all was said and done, gold lost around 12 dollars while silver dropped a little over 70 cents.
Profit-taking by investors looking to cash in on precious metals’ recent rally drove down spot values from the minute markets opened in the United States. With that being said, however, profit-taking wasn’t the only factor weighing on gold and silver today. A report released today showed that sales of new homes increased by nearly 10% in January. This was the largest such increase in nearly 5 years and put even more pressure on metals.
The European Union is making strides to help Ukraine in this difficult time by loaning money to the nation in order to keep its financial system from collapsing. Since the beginning of last week, the entire world has had their eyes on Ukraine and have watched things there deteriorate in the blink of an eye. Now, Ukrainians and the world alike are concerning themselves with two things; how the nation’s economy will survive this debacle, and who will take over the role of president. Ukraine’s currency, the hryvnia, has lost significant value in the last few weeks and is beginning to wear on the Russian ruble as well.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, the marketplace will be paying close attention to Janet Yellen’s address to the US Senate Banking Committee. Though originally scheduled for a few weeks ago, the meeting was postponed due to the slew of horrid weather that hit the entire eastern seaboard. Investors will be hoping to hear news with regard to the FOMC’s plans to continue tapering or not, but it is much more likely that Ms. Yellen will simply reiterate her faith in the strength of the US economy. It will also be interesting to see if gold and silver can stop their respective declines overnight or if profit-taking, among other factors, will continue to weigh on spot values.
