As the days edges closer to its end, gold and silver spot values are inching higher and higher. Today played host to an FOMC statement that yielded nothing in the way of surprising, groundbreaking news. Instead, what the FOMC had to say with regard to Quantitative Easing was more or less expected and mostly ignored by the market.
Instead, investors continue to keep a close eye on anything and everything happening in both Ukraine and Iraq. Ukraine is currently flirting with a lack of natural gas due to its inability to pay Russian gas provider Gazprom. Ukraine has pleaded with Gazprom to be more understanding in their current time of financial distress, but Gazprom is unwilling to compromise. If the natural gas supply to Ukraine is done away with, there is no saying what that will mean for the already floundering nation.
Crisis In Iraq Threatening Stability of Country, Region With Each Passing Day
Over the course of the past two weeks or so, Iraq has been making headlines all over the world because it is slowly but surely falling apart at the hands of Islamic rebels. The Islamic militant group ISIS has been seen taking a stranglehold on a large number of northern Iraqi cities and have been seen absolutely dismantling what few Iraqi troops come to show them any resistance. As the Islamic militants make their way further south, closer to the capital city of Baghdad, the Iraqi government is growing increasingly worried. As a result, they have been seen pleading with the United States for some military help.
While most people in the United States would rather see the country avoid more conflict in the Middle East, the US government has decided to provide a few special operations forces as well as military advisers. As the stability of Iraq, and the Middle East in general, is called further into question, safe-haven demand for precious metals will likely only grow more intense. This is what has been happening over the past week or more and will likely continue to until both the Iraq and Ukraine situations are resolved.
The FOMC, in a statement today, announced that they will continue with the tapering of Quantitative Easing as they have been for the past few months. This news ended up having almost no impact on the marketplace, despite it being the marquis piece of news on the slate this week.