Gold Spot Price Open: $1,264
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,265
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$1
Silver Spot Price Open: $17.47
Silver Spot Price Close: $17.32
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.15
Precious metals ended mixed on a day where trading was choppy and quiet to say the least. When all was said and done, gold managed to gain about a dollar while silver lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 cents. Platinum and palladium finished the day mixed but neither metal moved all that far from where it opened.
Stock Market Rallies Limit Metals Buying Interest
For a lot of this week and especially today, precious metals were prevented from making gains thanks to increased investor risk-appetite as evidenced by better-performing stocks in the US and Europe. Of course, the fact that crude oil has gone on a bit of a rally recently is something that lifts energy stocks considerably and has done exactly that all week long.
The real question, however, remains whether or not crude oil can sustain its recent rally. Most experts think that oil is destined for yet another peg downward, but there is no way of saying this for sure. What we can say for sure, however, is that higher crude oil prices that bring up energy stocks will undoubtedly hurt precious metals. As we move deeper into the month of February, it will be imperative that we keep an eye on the price of crude oil as it will assuredly have some sort of impact on gold and silver spot values.
Risk Appetite Grows On Ukraine Rumors
Today, investors were greeted with rumors that a Western-backed peace deal between Ukrainian military forces and pro-Russian separatists may be on the table. There has been little talk of the specifics of the deal, but investors see it as a step in the right direction towards achieving peace in Ukraine.
It is important to keep in mind, however, that only a few weeks ago fighting intensified after another ceasefire agreement was unable to be reached. As has been the case for the better part of the past year, Ukraine and the fighting that is going on there will continue to be in and out of the news. So long as turmoil exists, however, it will provide a bit of underlying support for gold and silver.
Investors Patiently Await Friday’s Jobs Data
This slow week will be capped off with one of the most important pieces of economic data when January’s US Labor Department employment report is released tomorrow. Because tomorrow’s data is being looked upon with such importance, it should come as no surprise that today was a quieter day of trading due to most investors holding their positions until the data is made public.
As it stands, experts are anticipating that more than 235,000 non-farm payrolls were added in January. This estimate can best be described as “middle-of-the-road”, but I would not be surprised to see tomorrow’s actual figures show job growth that falls short of expectations. Of course, we will just have to wait to find out.
Wrap-Up
As if it weren’t already painfully obvious, the market’s attention is now firmly fixated upon tomorrow’s US employment report from January. I imagine that the data will affect gold and silver in some capacity, but how big of an impact we see will directly correlate with how close or far actual figures are from what is expected by experts.
