Gold Spot Price Open: $1,241
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,227
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$14
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.34
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.20
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.14
Any progress made on Tuesday was surely given right back as precious metals fell again on Wednesday. When all was said and done, gold lost more than ten dollars while silver declined by another fourteen cents. Platinum and palladium lost on the day as well, though neither metals’ losses extended too far beyond the $10 range.
Gold Suffers Amid Better Risk-Appetite
Straight from the offing on Wednesday, gold and silver were being pushed downward thanks to the existence of some heavy pressure which came in the form of surging equities. Despite gold and silver’s losses, the news isn’t all bad thanks to comments from the Fed on Tuesday which insinuated that we may be waiting a while yet until we see interest rates hiked again. The expectation that the FOMC, at their April policy meeting, will emit a more cautious tone as it relates to interest rate shifts is something that is keeping the Dollar more or less grounded. If, for example, Janet Yellen announced on Tuesday that she was all for hiking rates at the next meeting, we might have seen the greenback surge forward and metals slide even further, but such did not prove to be the case.
Unfortunately, however, the month of March has not been at all favorable for precious metals. If you look at gold’s chart from the beginning of the month, you can see an almost directly downward trajectory which took the metal from closing in on $1,300/ounce to approaching an even $1,200.
Over the long-term, Yellen’s more cautious sentiments are likely to pay off for gold and silver, but right now we are witnessing more profit-taking and chart consolidation than anything else. As the market gears up for Friday’s release of the United States’ non-farm payrolls data for March, one cannot help but wonder what the future has in store for spot values.
Though the ADP private-sector job growth report rarely offers a clear-cut view of what we can expect from the Labor Department’s report, it is worth mentioning that ADP saw only 200,000 jobs added during March; a number that falls short of last month’s revised 205,000 jobs added. As we look forward to Friday expectations are not exactly high, but most people do think that the US employment sector is growing, so it would be a shock for Friday’s report to tell us otherwise.
Chicago Fed Sees 2 Rate Hikes in 2016
More or less echoing the sentiments of james Bullard about a week ago, Chicago Federal Reserve president Charles Evans feels as though at least two rate hikes are liable to take place this year still.
In a speech made in New York today, Evans said, “A very shallow path — such as the one envisioned by the median FOMC participant in March — is the most appropriate path for policy normalization over the next three years. My assessment is the economy is going to be strong enough, we’ll be raising rates two times this year.”
Though Evans does not vote on the decision to raise rates or keep them where they are, his opinion has always had a lot of influence. Still, the belief that the US is still going to emit strong annual growth and inflation numbers by year’s end has many people thinking that there is no time better than now to act on hiking rates. While this is true, there are still very few people who think rates will be touched this April.
Wrap-Up
All in all, today was a fairly quiet day and saw investors preoccupied with what they think the future holds for interest rates. Looking ahead, Friday is the biggest day of the week as it brings about the latest non-farm payrolls figures. Apart from that, Thursday’s weekly jobless claims report will be eyed closely by investors worldwide.
