Gold Spot Price Open: $1,281
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,276
Change in Gold Spot Price: -$5
Silver Spot Price Open: $19.50
Silver Spot Price Close: $19.40
Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.10
Precious metals began the day near steady, but by the time markets closed that pressure turned into losses. When all was said and done, gold lost roughly 5 dollars while silver was down to the tune of ten cents. Platinum and palladium both ended the day having posted some minor losses as well.
S&P500 Tops 2,000 for First Time Ever
The big news of the day came shortly after US markets opened for trading in the form of the S&P500 crossing over the 2,000 threshold for the first time in its history. Though it lasted only a few moments above 2,000, it was still reason enough for investors to pay attention.
It has been no secret that US equity markets have been improving as of late, but the S&P’s rise to all-time record highs has been in the making for nearly 5 years now. During the past 5 years, the S&P was able to more than double in value, helped along by sectors such as consumer discretionary, healthcare, industrials, and technology.
Though the S&P is at all-time highs right now, such will probably not remain the case for long. According to Joe Bell from Schaeffer’s Investment Research Inc., “2,000 is a pretty significant number from psychological and financial points. We’re seeing the continuation of a strong momentum that occurred in July. Perhaps we might reach a little bit overbought status, and it looks like the index is going to take a breather there.”
Dollar Nears Yearly High
The US Dollar made decent gains against the Euro currency on Monday and finished the day just below a 12-month high. The reason for the greenbacks continued progress can be directly linked to the remarks made by Janet Yellen and Mario Draghi in Jackson Hole last week.
Most perceived Yellen’s prepared speech as meaning that interest rates would definitely be raised in the US sometime in 2015, while Draghi alluded that the ECB may soon be implementing further economic stimulus. If these two things do end up coming to fruition, very few people would be surprised to see the USD make even more gains against the Euro. Peter Rosenstreich from Swissquote Bank SA was quoted today as saying, “The messages from Yellen and Draghi solidify a market view on policy divergence between the Fed and the ECB. There were some holdouts in the market that didn’t quite believe that Yellen is ready for tighter policy and Draghi is ready to put forward any significant broad-based purchases. What we heard over the weekend is that yes, these are on the table.”
Wrap-Up
Looking ahead to the next few days, it is clear to see that investor focus will remain on the progress of US equity markets. Though the S&P backed down from its all-time high, it is still in a great position and looks strong. The same can be said about most other US equity markets as well.