Gold Spot Price Open: $1,173
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,168
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$5
Silver Spot Price Open: $15.72
Silver Spot Price Close: $15.77
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.05
Precious metals continued to slide on Thursday as the overall conditions of the global economy continue to work against both gold and silver. When all was said and done, gold lost 5 dollars while silver moved upward by about 5 cents. Platinum and palladium also finished the day down, but by very small margins.
US Jobs Data Slightly Weaker Than Expected
The big news of the day came earlier this morning when the non-farms payrolls report for June was published by the US Labor Department. According to the data, only about 223,000 new non-farm jobs were created during June, which was less than the minimum of 225,000 new jobs that were expected to be added. Making the figures worse is the fact that job additions during April and May were revised downward to the tune of 60,000 jobs. The only bright spot of this news is the fact that the overall unemployment rate fell to 5.3%. Unfortunately, this good news was outdone by the fact that the rate of participation in the labor market is at its lowest point since the late 1970s.
According to Chris Gaffney of EverBank World Markets, “The numbers overall were disappointing, and it calls into question the September rate increase and maybe even the December [increase].” Though it has been sometime since we have seriously talked about interest rate hikes, the market is still mostly expecting rates to be hiked sometime towards the very end of the year, but some forecasts hold that rates will remain put until well into 2016. For now, investors are more readily concerning themselves with what is unfolding across Europe.
Greek Referendum Takes Center Stage
The marketplace, especially the US marketplace, has slowed down over the past few days mostly due to the impending celebration of the July 4th holiday. Still, those investors that are sticking the week out are turning their attention to the Greek referendum which is scheduled to be held this Sunday. According to early polls, there is no clear consensus on which direction Greek voters are going to cast their votes.
According to the most recent poll, 47% of those that responded voted in favor of Greek pursuing austerity measures as a means of unlocking vital bailout funds. That same poll showed that roughly 43% of respondents would vote against austerity measures–a move that will likely see Greece forced off the Euro and out of the European Union. This indecision on the part of Greek voters is something that has confused the marketplace and has convinced them to remain put until we receive final word on the results of Sunday’s referendum. Though the end of this week may be quiet and devoid of major developments across the global marketplace, I do not imagine that the early parts of next week will be quiet at all.
Wrap-Up
For people from the United States, today more or less marked the end of the week. Most people have the day off tomorrow in order to get an early start on Saturday’s holiday, and I expect the overall global marketplace to be quiet. Investors from the rest of the world will still be trading tomorrow, but with Greece being the center of attention I expect that most will retain their positions until there is some final word on what direction the upcoming referendum goes.