Gold Spot Price Open: $1,341
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,348
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$7
Silver Spot Price Open: $20.91
Silver Spot Price Close: $20.85
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.06
Gold and silver experienced mixed fates on Tuesday but safe-haven demand seems to be making its way back into the marketplace thanks to increasing tensions in Ukraine. When all was said and done, spot gold gained about 7 dollars while silver lost a little more than five cents.
With citizens of Crimea set to vote on whether to rejoin Russia or remain part of Ukraine less than a week away, tensions in the region have begun to approach a boiling point again. Tensions are on the rise due to the upcoming vote but also because of a more visible presence of pro-Russian forces in Crimea.
Over the weekend and spilling into this week are a number of video reports and eyewitness testimonies saying that unmarked pro-Russian forces are taking control of strategic outposts all throughout Crimea. Though no widespread violence has happened, the pending vote on whether Crimea will remain part of Ukraine or not threatens to compromise what has been a relatively nonviolent last week or so.
Economic data for today and this week in general has been and will continue to be relatively light and likely have a marginal impact on the marketplace, if it has an impact at all. Instead, investors will more readily turn their attention to next week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting. As has been the case the last few months, investors will be speculating whether or not the FOMC will further taper its monthly bond-buying, also referred to as Quantitative Easing. As of now, it is expected that tapering will be reduced at next week’s meeting.
Tomorrow is shaping up to be another quiet day as far as US economic data is concerned, and the marketplace will continue to keep a close eye on any and all developments stemming from the situation in Ukraine.
