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    JM Bullion Gold and Silver Market Update (2/3/17)

    Gold Spot Price Open: $1,219

    Gold Spot Price Close: $1,222

    Change in Gold Spot Price:+$3

    Silver Spot Price Open: $17.52

    Silver Spot Price Close: $17.49

    Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.03

    Precious metals did not perform as well as most would have thought on Friday, and this is mostly because of a much stronger than expected employment report from the United States. When all was said and done, gold managed to add only 3 dollars while silver ended up falling by three cents. Platinum and palladium concluded the day on Friday mixed, with platinum adding a few dollars and palladium losing close to ten.

    More Upbeat Employment Data

    This week has been marked with a boatload of employment data from the United States, most of which has been overly upbeat. First, on Wednesday, the payrolls processor ADP announced that the private-sector of the US economy created more than 240,000 jobs last month. That surprisingly upbeat piece of data was followed by Thursday’s weekly jobless claims report, which showed 14,000 fewer first-time claims for unemployment benefits than the week before.

    Despite these two reports, investors were always going to put the majority of their attention on today’s non-farms payrolls data. In the lead-up to Friday’s report, even the biggest expectations were for a non-farm payrolls increase of less than 200,000. In fact, most experts agreed that if January saw 175,000 new jobs added, the report would be viewed as a successful one. Today, the actual data blew all expectations away as the Labor Department announced that more than 225,000 new jobs were created last month. This news sent stocks skyward and saw the Dow once again eclipse the 20,000 threshold.

    The employment data was not all good, however, In addition to the non-farm payrolls data, the marketplace received word of less than stellar wage growth for hourly employees. Prior to today’s data being released, market experts were anticipating that January saw .3% hourly wage growth. The actual figures showed that wages actually increased by only .1%. The takeaway from today’s data is that even though we are sure the Fed still plans on hiking rates at least one more time this year, they might have to wait a little while. As such, expectations for a March interest rate hike are not very high at the present moment in time. This very well might change, but the year is still too young for the Fed to out and out commit one way or another.

    Optimistic Outlook for Gold

    Despite some choppiness towards the end of this week, most traders are expecting gold’s spot value to continue climbing as we head into next week. According to a Kitco News survey, a large majority of polled traders anticipate that the yellow metal’s spot value will continue to rise, mostly thanks to safe-haven demand.

    With so much unrest in the United States and the world, and no real idea as to what provocation Donald Trump will partake in next, investors are clambering to get their hands on precious metals, specifically gold. Most recently, President Trump dished out an official warning to Iran regarding recent ballistic missile tests. Though he did not say so in plain words, Trump alluded that military action against the country is not out of the question. Though such a reaction would seem wildly disproportionate, there are already talks of more sanctions being levied against one of the seven nations whose citizens are currently barred from entering the US.

    Wrap-Up

    All things considered, this was quite the exciting week. There was a lot of economic data dealt from the first month of the year, and even more in the way of geopolitical headlines. As we look ahead to next week, not only can we expect more economic data to be dealt, but we will also be keeping a close eye and ear on anything and everything President Trump does and says.

    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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