Gold Spot Price Open: $1,352
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,335
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$17
Silver Spot Price Open: $21.58
Silver Spot Price Close: $21.22
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.36
Gold and silver gave back Monday’s gains as profit-taking had a negative impact on spot values today. When all was said and done, gold lost about 17 dollars while silver declined by nearly 40 cents.
Profit-taking after recent gains was driving down the spot values of gold and silver as soon as US markets opened today. Adding to the downward pressure being placed upon gold and silver was the fact that tensions in Ukraine declined dramatically overnight. Yesterday, it was reported that Russian Naval officers stationed in the Black Sea had made threats that they would launch a large-scale attack on Crimea if Ukrainian soldiers in the region did not surrender by this afternoon. Those reports were denied by Russian authorities initially, and during the overnight hours proven to be false. This piece of information alone caused tensions to decrease dramatically this morning. Adding to the good news with regard to tensions in Ukraine was an early morning report that claimed Russian president Vladimir Putin called upon his soldiers in Crimea to return to their respective bases.
The news of the situation in Ukraine calming down fueled some risk-appetite today and successfully worked against spot gold and silver. With that being said, however, tensions on the Korean peninsula are on the rise after North Korea launched a few missiles into the East China Sea overnight. The missiles, which ended up landing harmlessly in the sea, were fired as a visible sign of North Korea’s opposition to joint military exercises currently taking place between South Korea and the United States. Though no major escalation of violence is expected to happen in the coming days, South Korea’s military remains on full alert, as does the rest of the world.
As we head into the second half of the week tomorrow, investors will have their eyes on both the ongoing situation in Ukraine as well as the pending employment report from last February. Currently, the market is expecting to see $150,000 jobs added this past February and is also expecting the unemployment rate to remain constant at 6.6%.
