Gold Spot Price Open: $1,368
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,373
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$5
Silver Spot Price Open: $21.30
Silver Spot Price Close: $21.23
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.07
Gold and silver experienced mixed results on Thursday after some positive US economic news prevented the metals from gainfully improving on yesterday’s solid earnings. When all was said and done, gold gained around five dollars while silver ended up losing a few more than 5 cents.
Safe-haven demand for physical gold and silver has been revived this week, mostly thanks to two factors. For one, tensions with regard to the crisis in Ukraine are as high as ever and threaten to spill over into an all-out armed conflict. The referendum that essentially decides the fate of Crimea is scheduled for Sunday and, depending on how Crime’a citizens vote, may throw a brand new element into this whole ordeal. While the speculation with regard to what will happen in Ukraine after Sunday continues to circulate, the one thing we do know is that safe-haven demand for gold and silver is being given a noticeable boost from the growing instability of Ukraine.
Another factor driving safe-haven demand for precious metals is growing investor uneasiness with regard to the recent performance of the Chinese economy. So far this year, China has given investors nothing but weak economic reports to reflect on and analyze. Despite forecasts saying that 2014 will be an incredibly positive year as far as overall economic growth is concerned, recent data suggests otherwise.
Adding to investor uneasiness stemming from recently poor Chinese economic performance is an increasing number of reports claiming that China is on the verge of falling into some tough times financially. Only a few weeks ago, the first major Chinese company ever went into default and announced that it was unable to pay off obligations. If financial worries compound on top of preexisting worries about the strength of the Chinese economy, there is no saying how much safe-haven demand for gold and silver stands to benefit.
