Gold Spot Price Open: $1,211
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,186
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$25
Silver Spot Price Open: $16.72
Silver Spot Price Close: $16.19
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.53
Precious metals suffered heavy losses on Thursday thanks to a few fresh factors working against the early week uptrend. When all was said and done, gold lost more than twenty dollars while silver was down to the tune of more than 50 cents. Palladium and platinum also finished the day down, but not by such significant margins.
FOMC Statement Deemed Overly Bearish
When we closed things yesterday, it was looking like precious metals would derive some benefit from the somewhat surprising FOMC statement. Instead, the mood was different today as market analysts were quick to point out that while the US economy isn’t performing well right now, its poor performance is likely temporary more than anything else.
Once again, it seems as though the global marketplace is maintaining the belief that interest rate hikes in the US will take place sometime in the near future. In all likelihood, according to many experts, the June or July FOMC meetings are when the rate hike announcement will take place.
Perhaps adding fuel to the fire that is interest rate speculation was a weekly jobless claims that showed the lowest number of claims for unemployment benefits in about 15 years. This flies in the face of the belief that the US employment sector has been lagging behind. Still, this is but one report, and with many more to come from the month of April over the course of next week and the following week, it will be interesting to see if everyone maintain’s such a positive outlook on the US employment situation.
Eyes Remain On Baltimore
For yet another day, the eye of the United States and the world will be on Baltimore as city police have just finished up their investigation into the death of teenager Freddie Gray, who was in police custody when he suffered a fatal severed spine injury. It is expected that Baltimore’s district attorney will announce whether charges will be filed at some point tomorrow. This is a huge deal for many, many people.
The investing world will be keeping an eye on the Charm City (and other cities across the US for that matter) because no charges being filed could mean all out destruction. It is believed that, if charges are not filed, unrest the likes of which we saw in Ferguson, Missouri no more than half a year ago might unfold on the United States’ Eastern seaboard.
Wrap-Up
In other news, this time from Europe, it was reported that a deal between Greek and IMF/EU officials might soon be reached. Greece’s prime minister commented today, saying that significant progress has been made and that a deal is likely. As you might have expected, this news did not do spot values any favors.
As we look ahead to the final day of the week, it is likely that things will be mostly quiet. Of course, attention will be paid to what happens in Baltimore, but there is not much in the way of economic data expected to be released. Next week, however, the story will be a bit different as April’s pieces of economic data will begin to trickle in.