Gold Spot Price Open: $1,181
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,205
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$24
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.82
Silver Spot Price Close: $16.44
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.62
Gold and silver got the week off to a great start on Monday thanks to fresh worries surrounding the Greek debt situation. When all was said and done, gold managed to gain close to 25 dollars while silver gained more than 60 cents. Platinum and palladium also had upbeat starts to the new trading week.
Many Bullish Developments for Metals
An interesting situation unfolded towards the end of late last week as CitiBank Group traded out $1 Billion USD for the equivalent amount of gold from Venezuela. According to Venezuelan news agencies, the agreement was made in order to boost the country’s cash reserves. From an investment perspective, the move by CitiBank was seen as a very bullish development for the yellow metal.
In other news, growing unrest surrounding the police killing of an unarmed person in Baltimore is beginning to make headlines. Protesters and police forces have been clashing for the previous few days, with clashes becoming quite intense over the weekend and today. Though these developments have not had any major impact on precious metals spot values, it is definitely something to pay attention to as we move forward through this week.
Greek Debt Talks Continuing to Stall
The story with regard to Greek debt restructuring talks really hasn’t changed much in the last few days. If anything, the sentiment from people close to the situation is one that has grown fairly confident in Greece’s impending exit from the European Union. Citing reports that EU and IMF officials are more readily discussing what will happen if and when Greece defaults on a payment, it is clear to see that things are not progressing much at all.
Most recently, it was reported that the Greek government switched up its negotiating team in what is looking like a Hail Mary throw at this point. Safe-haven gold and silver are seeing support grow, but it is widely believed that any support derived from the Greek debt talks will be temporary at best. Still, this is very much a situation we will continue to pay close attention to as the week plays out.
FOMC Meeting On the Horizon
The latest meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee will kick off tomorrow morning and is set to wrap up sometimes Wednesday afternoon. Unlike most other meetings, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen will not be holding a press conference in the meeting’s wake. Instead, investors and market analysts will have only the Fed’s post-meeting statement to analyze.
As for what to expect from this week’s meeting, I am of the opinion that it will be more uneventful than anything else. I highly doubt that an interest rate hike will be announced, and instead expect the Fed to maintain its dependence on upbeat US economic data as being the main factor affecting the timing of rate hikes. With that said, however, these Fed meetings are never easy to predict.
Wrap-Up
Though today did not offer up the most exciting beginning of a trading week, it did dish out a few situations we can keep our eye on as this week moves forward. The Greek debt talks will continue to be watched, as will growing violence in Baltimore. Gold and silver both made solid gains as the USD Index dipped to a three-week low, so now becomes a guessing game of whether we will see a continued uptrend or a corrective pullback come Tuesday morning/afternoon.