Gold Spot Price Open: $1,097
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,099
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$2
Silver Spot Price Open: $14.82
Silver Spot Price Close: $14.76
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.06
To close out the week, gold and silver resumed their respective slides as the market remains stacked against precious metals. When all was said and done, gold moved downward by as much as ten dollars on the day before gaining a few dollars while silver moved downward by just about 6 cents. Platinum and palladium did not move much on Friday and finished in just about the same positions they were in when the day began.
Metals’ Bearish Run Has Room to Grow
Despite recent losses, metals analysts and experts are convinced that gold and silver may not even be near the end of their slide. Gold is now sitting near a 5-year low for a second consecutive week and the overall outlook on the metals market is anything but bright. The fall we are currently witnessing matches one we saw back in 2010, but unlike then, there is no surefire way of knowing if the slide is going to stop anytime soon. Gold remains pinned below $1,100/ounce and silver is moving even further below $15/ounce.
At the moment, a stronger US Dollar, upbeat US economic data, and impending interest rate hikes have investor risk appetite at all-time highs. This is seen in the fact that stocks in both the US and around the world are performing extremely well. All in all, the story remains the same. Thanks to an overall lack of fundamentally bullish economic data/headlines, metals may remain pinned down for some time to come.
New Home Sales Fall Unexpectedly
According to a report released today, new home sales in June slumped after month after month of upbeat data. According to the US Commerce Department, new home sales slumped by nearly 7% during June. This news was unexpected, but wasn’t the most surprising bit of data considering the real estate market in the US has been hot since the beginning of Spring.
Under normal circumstances, this type of data may drive precious forward, but considering the fact that the real estate sector of the US economy has been on the positive side of things as of late, this data was mostly ignored. This piece of data also contradicts a recent report which claimed that existing home sales remain at high levels and came back better than expected during the month of June.
Wrap-Up
To be blunt, this week did not offer much in the way of markets-moving economic data. The market remains stacked against precious metals and as investors gear up for interest rate hikes, gold and silver are not likely to catch a break anytime soon. Looking ahead to next week, there will be some economic data from the US, but preliminary expectations hold that most of it will be in line with or better than expectations. Like we have been saying for the past few weeks, gold and silver are in need of some fundamentally bullish data to drive spot values forward. At present, however, that seems like a long shot as recent data has been wholly bearish for gold and silver.