Gold Spot Price Open: $1,234
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,234
Change in Gold Spot Price: NO CHANGE
Silver Spot Price Open: $14.90
Silver Spot Price Close: $14.73
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.17
Better risk appetite coupled with mild profit-taking meant that both gold and silver finished Tuesday having posted losses. When all was said and done, gold finished about even while silver lost close to twenty cents. Platinum and palladium, on the other hand, both made nice strides forward, with platinum gaining more than twenty dollars on the day.
Euro Trades Down on Easing Fears
The Euro had a tough day at the office on Tuesday thanks to growing beliefs that the European Central Bank will soon be forced to implement more severe monetary easing policies. After data released on Monday showed that consumer prices are continuing to fall across the region and now the investing world feels as though the ECB will have no choice but to ramp up easing measures come their next meeting. Fears of the Euro being further devalued sometime in the near future are behind what is a clear downward movement on the part of the region’s currency.
While the Euro seems to be in a bit of a precarious situation at the present moment in time, European equity indexes are preforming nicely on Tuesday mostly thanks to some upbeat data regarding employment across the region. Though manufacturing data was about as poor as most were expecting it to be, it seems as though the employment sector of the European economy appears to be improving.
The European Central Bank will be holding their monthly policy meeting next week and currently it seems as though more stimulus measures will be announced. There is no saying this for certain at the present moment in time, but the way the EU has been performing lately it seems as though the ECB has exhausted most other options.
More US Economic Data Dealt
Leading the equity charge on Tuesday were most US markets as they surged right out of the gate. This massive move forward was thanks, in part, to an increased risk appetite amongst investors combined with some better than expected economic data from last month. Being that today is the first day of March, you can expect that the economic data stream will only continue to grow as time moves forward.
For one, it was reported that spending on construction projects moved upward by considerable margins last month. What’s more, a small batch of manufacturing data showed that despite the weak reports we have been seeing recently, the US economy is not as weak as it may seem. Stocks moved upward upon the release of these data points, but as has been the case recently equity performance is correlated directly with the performance of crude oil. After opening up the day slowly, crude oil made some nice gains and finished the day in a much better position than where it started it. Thanks to all this upward movement on the part of equities, the US Dollar was also given the room and momentum to move forward. The greenback made gains against most rival currencies and is once more inching towards being even with the Euro. As this week moves forward and more economic data is dealt, it will be interesting to see just how far the Dollar climbs (or falls).
Wrap-Up
Looking ahead to Wednesday and the rest of the week, the main focus for investors will be the multitude of economic reports due out from the United States and other major global economies. Of course, all of this data will culminate upon the release of the latest reading on employment growth for the US economy. This report is due out on Friday and will catch the undivided attention of the global marketplace. At the present moment, initial beliefs are that the US did not create an overwhelming number of jobs during February, however the data may override that belief.