Gold Spot Price Open: $1,243
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,264
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$21
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.07
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.13
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.06
Both gold and silver finished solidly upward by the time things settled down today. When all was said and done, gold ended up gaining about 21 dollars while silver added just a few pennies. Platinum and palladium gained on Thursday, but those gains were limited to roughly $5 apiece.
Weekly Jobless Claims Tick Upward
For a second consecutive week, it was reported by the US Department of Labor that claims for first-time unemployment benefits have risen by about 6,000. After an even larger increase last week, investors are beginning to wonder just how long the US employment sector can hang in there as one of the only consistently bright spots of the US economy. Now, the seasonally-adjusted average of unemployment claims has risen to 278,000 after being just under 260,000 a few weeks ago.
The news wasn’t all bad, however, as it was reported that the 4-week moving average of weekly jobless claims—which is seen as a more accurate barometer of how the employment sector is doing—was down by little more than 1,500, bringing the seasonally-adjusted average to just over 270,000. While the 4-week moving average’s decline was nothing spectacular, it was a small bright spot coming from an otherwise bleak report.
Now, the attention of the marketplace turns to tomorrow’s non-farms payrolls data from the US Labor Department. As it stands, expectations for job growth last month are not what one can consider lofty. After yesterday’s ADP private-sector jobs report came back showing less than 200,000 jobs created during February, most are expecting that tomorrow’s data will be poor. For gold and silver, the widespread belief is that if tomorrow’s data misses the mark by even a little bit, spot values may be given a significant boost as well as a more upbeat near-term outlook.
More Poor News From Europe
In the early morning hours the marketplace was dealt another batch of poor European economic data the likes of which bolster the belief that the European Central Bank will be forced to announce further monetary easing in the wake of their next meeting. Markit Economics’ PMI for the Eurozone for the month of January fell to a reading of 53, down from a December reading of 53.6. This is the lowest such PMI reading in more than a year and does well to undermine the feeling that the European economy was showing marked signs of recovery over the past few months.
In the report, it was made clear that the whole Euro region is suffering from the effects of the global economic slowdown. Even more telling, however, was the fact that economies like Germany, Italy, and Ireland—all of which were expanding at a nice pace through 2015’s Q4—saw rates of economic expansion slow down to start out 2016.
It was no secret that the marketplace widely expected to see further stimulus measures announced at March’s European Central Bank meeting, but after this week’s data that expectation has grown considerably. We will certainly keep an eye on any and all European economic data that continues to be released as we head a bit further into the month.
Wrap-Up
Looking ahead to the last day of the week, it goes without saying that the biggest and most important piece of economic data will come out tomorrow in the form of the non-farms payrolls data. This report has the power to influence the direction of the US economy as well as how outside investors feel about growth prospects and monetary policy shifts. Like was said yesterday and earlier in this article, if tomorrow’s job growth figures miss the mark even a little bit, gold and silver may stand to benefit greatly.
