Gold Spot Price Open: $1,292
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,276
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$16
Silver Spot Price Open: $20.02
Silver Spot Price Close: $19.38
Change in Silver Spot Price:-$0.64
In the wake of Bernanke’s address to the US House of Representatives gold and silver fell by decent margins. At the end of the day gold dropped about 16 dollars while silver lost roughly 64 cents.
Ben Bernanke’s prepared text for what he was going to say to the House was released early Wednesday morning for digesting and conversation among many different types of investors. In his prepared remarks Bernanke stated that there was no predetermined timetable or plan of action in regards to the winding down or abandonment of Quantitative Easing, despite popular belief. In fact, Mr. Bernanke asserted that monetary policies in the United States will remain accommodating and flexible for as long as he and the rest of the Fed see fit. These comments were great for precious metals and coupled with a weaker US Dollar Index in the morning, gold and silver started out the day with some decent gains.
After Bernanke addressed the House he entertained a Q&A session which more or less reverted the prepared remarks that were released in the morning. This meant that the whole of Bernanke’s speech and post-speech remarks were more or less neutral in the eyes of precious metals investors.
As the day wore on the US Dollar Index picked back up and made enough gains to put some downward pressure on gold and silver. What we can take from Bernanke’s address today is that the US economy and how it fares over the coming months will likely be the main determinant in what changes (if any) are made to monetary policy. Even though people are still holding on steadfast to the belief that Quantitative Easing will be axed by the end of the year, there is no guarantee that such will be the case.
