Gold Spot Price Open: $1,121
Gold Spot Price Close: $1,124
Change in Gold Spot Price: +$3
Silver Spot Price Open: $14.57
Silver Spot Price Close: $14.84
Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.27
Precious metals bounced back a bit to start off the new, albeit shortened, week in somewhat impressive fashion. When all was said and done on Tuesday, gold managed to add roughly 3 dollars while silver improved by nearly 30 cents. Platinum and palladium both gained on the day by little more than ten dollars apiece.
Moves in China Help Equities
The marketplace was a bit calmer on Tuesday thanks to the fact that Beijing made recent moves to ensure that the type of marketplace turmoil we witnessed over the last few weeks does not take place again. Thanks to quick acting on the part of China’s central bank, the Shanhai stock index moved forward on Tuesday by just shy of 3%. Coming off a week where that very same index did little else apart from declining, this is very much encouraging for investors to see.
One of the more notable moves made by China’s central bank was to create tax exemptions on most corporate dividends. In addition, the country is establishing a circuit breaker system of sorts that will help the China economy more easily cope with bearish underlying economic data. Though most of these things have just been implemented, the fact that China is making an effort to combat poor economic numbers is encouraging for the investing world to see.
Boatload of European Economic Data
Admittedly a country we talk about very little, it was announced early on Tuesday that France is continuing to expect positive numbers to emanate from the 3rd quarter of this year. The Bank of France announced today that industrial production has been on the up and up and is more than likely going to maintain its upward trajectory. France is an interesting country to speak about because, for the last few years, it has been one of the worst economic performers of any major EU nation. Despite recent progress, it is clear to see that France is very much in the middle of its recovery effort.
Also made public early this week was a report claiming that German exports are and have been on the rise. Germany has long been a solid performer as far as EU countries are concerned, and this report only serves to reinforce that.
Finally, to round out the news from Europe, it was reported today that the second-quarter GDP for the Eurozone improved by more than originally anticipated. Much like the United States’ second quarter GDP report, Europe’s also was revised upward. Despite a downward shift in the level of foreign investment, exports were able to keep the EU economy afloat during this year’s April-June period. As we inch closer to the end of the year, it will be intriguing to see if the collective Eurozone will be able to emit positive growth despite the first half of the year going so poorly.
Wrap-Up
Today, though Tuesday, was a slow day across the global marketplace simply because many American investors and businesspeople decided to take the day off to continue their weekends. As we look ahead to the last three days of the week, I anticipate that the FOMC meeting will slowly but surely become the number one focus for investors. Apart from that, expect a good bit of economic data to filter in over the next couple days as well.
