Author Archives: bscom

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December 3rd Midweek Silver Market Update

Gold and silver spot values are mixed as of the writing of this post early Wednesday, and this week has thus far been interesting to say the least. On Monday, spot values shot upward and remained in those elevated positions for the entire day; something that helped gold and silver regain some of last week’s losses. Yesterday, however, some of Monday’s gains were parred due to a stronger Dollar, stronger US equities, and weaker crude oil. While there has been some economic data on the table this week, the attention of the market has been fixated upon two factors: the European Central Bank meeting as well as the price action of crude oil.

The ECB meeting is grabbing the attention of the market like it always does, but this time is a bit different due to the prevailing belief that the ECB is on the verge of announcing an addition to current monetary policies. Because there is no way to tell whether or not the ECB will enact a policy shift, the entirety of the global marketplace will be hanging on every word spoken by president Mario Draghi during the post-meeting press conference.

QE On the Horizon for the EU?

If you’re at all familiar with the monetary policies of the US Federal Reserve, the words quantitative easing are not foreign to you at all. The reason for this is due to the fact that, up until about 2 months ago, quantitative easing, or the purchase of government bonds in an attempt to stimulate a struggling economy, was a mainstay in the United States. In fact, many credit QE as being a major factor in bringing the US economy out of a recession.

For the European Union, it has been very clear for quite some time that something needs to be done in order to fuel economic progress. Just about a week ago, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development made comments saying that the EU’s lack of economic growth is threatening to undermine global economic growth. While this is bad for the outlook on the EU economy, it did the US economy 0 favors as slowed global economic growth will more than likely mean further delayed interest rate hikes in the US. This, however, could prove to be positive for precious metals, at least in the short run.

Adding credence to the belief that QE will be announced in the wake of the ECB meeting is the fact that ECB president Mario Draghi made comments saying that QE measures are not out of the question quite yet. While QE measures very well might not be announced, the market will undoubtedly be paying very close attention to anything and everything said by the ECB in their post-meeting press conference.

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November 26th Midweek Silver Market Update

Gold and silver spot values are hovering near even at the start of the day on Wednesday. Because tomorrow is the Thanksgiving holiday for many US-based traders, you can expect that today will play host to a relatively quiet market atmosphere. With that said, however, there is still a good amount of economic data set to be made public today, so there is no guaranteeing that things will be so quiet.

In other news from around the world, the market’s attention is continuing to be paid to Europe as the EU is clearly still struggling as far as gaining a solid economic foothold goes. Just yesterday, the OECD released a statement claiming that Europe’s slow economic growth is causing overall global economic growth to lag considerably. In addition to this, investors will also be paying close attention to what the outcome of tomorrow’s OPEC meeting will be.

Small Batch of Upbeat Economic Data From the US Moves Markets

Despite this week being shortened and slower than usual, there is a considerable amount of economic data upon which investors can reflect and mull over. Yesterday, metals were dealt a bit of a setback in the form of a positive revision to previously recorded third-quarter GDP data. Officially, annualized third-quarter GPD was reported as growing by just shy of 4%. This figure was revised upward from a previous reading of +3.5%. Even without the revisions, the GDP data for the US from this year’s third-quarter defeated expectations and dealt precious metals a setback.

Today is also going to play host to economic data from the United States, though it really isn’t expected to have too much of an impact on the marketplace, especially considering that most people will already be focused on their holiday plans. Still, we will closely analyze any and all economic data made public today.

In addition to US economic data, investors the world over will be interested in an OPEC meeting that will be held tomorrow. The meeting will center around what the oil cartel will do in order to stabilize spot values that are still hovering near multi-year lows. Whether the OPEC meeting will have a major impact on the global marketplace remains to be seen, but I can assure you that the market will be paying close attention to any and all outcomes of this meeting.

 

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November 19th Midweek Silver Market Update

Gold and silver spot values are holding steady as of the middle parts of the morning on Wednesday. Just like last week, this week is shaping up to be fairly quiet and devoid of any economic data. The exception to that will be today when the FOMC’s minutes from their most recent meeting are released. Up until this point, precious metals have fared decently and are actually on the positive side of things as of the middle of the week.

In case you missed it, the earlier part of this week brought about a downbeat GDP data out of Japan and the news that the Japanese economy is now experiencing recession. For the third-quarter of 2014, it was reported that the Japanese GDP declined during the third quarter as opposed to making gains as were expected.

European Central Bank Considering QE Measures

Over the course of the last few months, it has not been a secret that the European Union and its collective economy have been faring poorly. While we did receive word of an upbeat economic expectations report out of Germany a few days ago, the overall outlook on the European economy is anything buy positive. In fact, most reports we receive from the EU have been negative in nature and are looking like they will stay that way.

Earlier this week, however, we received word of European Central Bank president Mario Draghi potentially opening the door for more robust quantitative easing measures. In comments made to media, the leader of the ECB reiterated that the purchase of government bonds is not yet out o the question and may be pursued some time in the near future. While the ECB has already enacted measures such as lowering interest rates and buying stocks in an effort to spur the EU economy, they have yet to begin purchasing government bonds.

It will be interesting to keep an eye on Europe over the course of the coming weeks just to see if they plan on following through with bond purchases or if they will hold off on doing so. At present, the thought that QE is just around the bend for Europe has taken its toll on the Euro currency. Despite the US Dollar’s muted progress this week, the Euro still finds itself in a downtrodden position and lacking any real momentum.

As we look ahead to the last few days of the week, it is likely that investors will continue to keep a close eye on any and all developments from the European Union.

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November 12th Midweek Silver Market Update

Precious metals spot values have mostly traded within a small range this week, due to the fact that the marketplace has been generally quieter. Compared to last week, there has been almost no economic data made public, and what data has hit the market has failed to have much of an impact. Though this week has been slow and will more than likely continue to be, there was plenty for investors to talk about towards the end of last week’s trading session.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank met for their monthly policy meeting as the world watched on, waiting to hear an announcement regarding a shift in monetary policy. Unless you have been living under a rock, you are more than aware that the many countries and economies that make up the European Union have been struggling. As such, the market was expecting the ECB to announce a more drastic injection of cash as a way of attempting to stimulate the economy. Unfortunately, the meeting did not bring about any shifts in policy and was generally regarded as being a non-factor by the end of the day on Thursday.

After the somewhat disappointing ECB meeting, investors turned their attention to Friday’s October employment report from the United States. After September’s payrolls data showed that nearly 250,000 new jobs were created during that month, it only made sense that investors were expecting October’s figures to be just as robust. Much to the dismay of many investors, however, the actual figures that were released on Friday showed that only about 213,000 new jobs were created in October. Though this is definitely a solid number for monthly job growth, it fell far short of expectations and ended up putting a dent in the weekly progress made by equities and the greenback. For gold and silver, Friday’s jobs figures provided a much-needed end of the week boost.

Slow Week From an Economic, Geopolitical Perspective

Compared to last week, this week is basically devoid of any markets-moving economic data or talking points. Yesterday was a holiday in many parts of the world and, as such, trading across the global marketplace was much quieter and subdued than normal.

For gold and silver, this slow week has meant that the losses are not piling up. In fact, yesterday saw both gold and silver finish the day in the green, even if by only small margins. Over the next few days, investors will have the weekly jobless claims report to pay attention to, but not much else. As a result, you will see the attention of global investors almost solely fixated on currency and equity markets from around the world. European stocks have performed well this week on the back of some upbeat corporate earnings reports, but there is no saying how long that will last. For gold and silver, big gains are likely not to happen unless some unexpected piece of news or data breaks. The current market is extremely bearish, and apart from bargain-hunting buying attributed to lower prices, spot values will have a hard time doing anything other than declining.

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November 5th Midweek Silver Market Update

The spot values of precious metals are continuing to move downward in dramatic fashion as of the first half of the day on Wednesday. This time, it is yesterday’s election results that are weighing so heavily on metals. Though midterm elections went more or less the way most people expected them to go, most people held their positions through the first few days of the week regardless.

Now, as we look ahead to the last two days of the week, it is more than likely that the marketplace will remain abuzz with activity. For one, tomorrow is scheduled to bring about the latest European Central Bank meeting, and a growing number of people are under the impression that the ECB will announce fresh quantitative easing measures. On Friday, the market’s attention will shift to the release of October’s US employment report. As it stands, if both days go as anticipated, precious metals will be put underneath even more selling pressure. Now sitting at multi-year lows, gold and silver are growing weaker by the day.

Election Results Favor Economic Growth, Businesses

Though many people overlook the midterm elections in the United States, they are always incredibly important, and this time around that proved to be the case. With many seats in the Senate seemingly up for grabs, and even more gubernatorial spots up in the air, there was a lot riding on yesterday’s election results. Now, less than a day after voting ceased, it is clear to see that the Republican party has seized control of both the Senate and the House. This fact caused the US Dollar as well as US equity markets to tick upward considerably.

Because Republicans are seen as being more business-friendly than Democrats, most investors are convinced that the US economy will only continue to grow when in the hands of Republicans. It will definitely be interesting to see what kind of impact yesterday’s elections have on the political sphere in the United States. Of course, because election results gave equities and the greenback a boost, it should come as no surprise that precious metals are continuing to move downward today.

Making matters worse is the fact that the price of crude oil is only continuing to depreciate, bringing all raw commodities down with it. Because the Dollar and commodities seem to have taken on a directly inverse correlation in recent weeks, it is going to be tough for gold and silver to bounce back from recent losses.

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October 29th Midweek Silver Market Update

Precious metals are moving slightly lower ahead of the all-important FOMC meeting’s conclusion. Through the first few days of this week, investors have had plenty of data to mull over, but most of it has failed to really move markets considerably. The reason for this being that investors the world over want to hear what the Fed has to say in the wake of their most recent meeting.

The US Dollar has steadied today, but spent most of the first two days of the week declining against rivals, especially the Japanese Yen. Yesterday, however, the Swedish central bank’s decision to slash interest rates to near-0 levels caused the Swedish Krona to depreciate considerably and helped limit some of the greenback’s losses. The widespread belief is that today’s post-meeting statement will see the Fed reiterate much of the same things it has said over the course of the past few months, and for that reason, it is likely that the greenback will be able to regain a footing in the market.

All Eyes on the Federal Reserve of the United States

As is most often the case, the eyes of the investing world will continue to be firmly fixated upon the US Federal Open Market Committee as their two-day meeting draws to a close sometime in the next few hours. In case you have been living under a rock for the past few months, investors are so interested in the Fed simply due to the fact that they want to find out more information with regard to when and to what degree the FOMC will decide to raise interest rates.

At present, the market is certain that the Fed will eventually raise interest rates, though with each passing week the timeline with regard to when they will raise rates keeps being pushed back. Now, I would be surprised to see rate hikes happen anytime before the Summer of 2015. With that said, however, the hope is that today’s post-meeting statement will shed some light on whether or not the Fed wants to speed the process of rate hikes up, or if they are going to continue being intent on waiting it out and waiting for global economic conditions to improve.

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October 22nd Midweek Silver Market Update

Precious metals are playing part in a bit of a corrective pullback on Wednesday thanks to profit-taking stemming from early week gains, but the metals are still in a better position today than they were at any point 3 or 4 weeks ago. With stock markets in the US calming down a bit thanks to some upbeat corporate earnings, it is preliminarily looking like metals will be in for an uphill battle throughout the latter half of the week.

To be truthful, this week is not set to bring about too much in the way of markets-moving economic data, and this much is causing investors to shift their attention to the progress, or lack thereof, of the currency and stock markets. While we did receive some upbeat economic data from China yesterday, it did nothing more than reaffirm the growing belief that the Chinese economy is, in fact slowing down. At present, the US economy is one of the few in the world that is performing at what some are calling a high level. Whether that continue to be the case or not, however, remains to be seen.

Upbeat Corporate Earnings Revitalize Stock Markets

In case you weren’t around to witness it, last week saw equity markets in the US take a massive downturn. While most of the stock market movement in the US was downward facing a week ago, the even bigger issue was how extremely volatile equity markets in the US and elsewhere around the world were. So many people were under the impression that equity market rallies were complete and that stocks would be pegging themselves downward over the course of the coming days and weeks.

As such, precious metals were able to turn last 5-day trading session into a second consecutive week of gains; something that hasn’t been done for quite some time. Shortly after this week got underway, the word on the street was that metals would be adding even more value, but today is showing that such may not actually be the case. As we look ahead to the last two and a half days of this week, there is no doubting that the attention of global investors will remain firmly fixated on stocks as well as the currency markets.

At present, there is a growing belief that the European Central Bank will soon be introducing a quantitative easing package for the Euro Zone, but there is so far no solid facts to back that belief up. We will keep a close eye on any and all ECB developments as they will be extremely important to investors from all over the world.

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October 15th Midweek Silver Market Update

Precious metals began the day trading near even, but after the release of some economic data during the mid-morning hours, spot values received a noticeable boost. Through the first 2 and a half days of this week, the overall global marketplace has been particularly quiet and free of any noteworthy economic data. Though some data was made public out of Europe, it did not do much in the way of surprising anyone.

According to the data, industrial production in the Euro Zone’s leading economy, Germany, was down and continues to be down through the 3rd quarter of this year. Another report indicated that across the region as a whole, industrial production was also down. This data is none too surprising considering the recent trend of economic data from Europe has been sub-par, to say the least.

Now, the attention of the world will turn to the European Central Bank and what they plan on doing in order to combat stagnating economies across the region. Not only that, but the ECB will also have to concern itself with rising deflationary pressures that have been a source of worry for investors for almost a year now; in some cases more than a year.

Downbeat Economic Data From US Fuels Risk-Aversion

Wednesday got off to a slow start and saw metals moving more or less sideways, but after a few hours passed, metals spiked upward in response to some weaker than expected economic data from the United States. As you could have probably guessed, the weak US economic data also took a toll on US equities as well as the US Dollar.

A US retail sales report for September concluded that retail sales across the United States had fallen by about .3% month-on-month. This data was far worse than expected and was discouraging to many investors who were under the impression that the US economy had been doing nothing other than improving. Making matters worse for the greenback and equities was a report that indicated a .1% decline in the producer price index in September.

With any sub-par economic data comes the inevitable growth of the belief that the US Federal Reserve will hold off on raising interest rates for the foreseeable future. Though there is no way to tell for sure when the Fed plans on hiking interest rates, most experts hold that a rate hike will not come before next September; a projection that is in stark contrast to previous expectations of a June or July rate hike. Don’t let the data fool you, however, the US economy is still performing extremely well for the 2014 year and is on pace to be one of, if not, the world’s top economic performers.

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October 8th Midweek Silver Market Update

Precious metals are holding steady but moving ever so slightly downward to begin the day on Wednesday. Thus far this week we have not been dealt too much in the way of economic data, but what data we have been given has come from Europe and has been mostly poor. Today, investors are anxiously awaiting the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting. As is always the case, investors will be watching the minutes very closely in hopes of finding out more information regarding interest rates.

In case you missed it, last week brought about the most recent employment data for the United States in September. During the lead-up to the data’s release, investors and market experts alike were expecting to see September job additions somewhere in the neighborhood of 215,000–admittedly healthy job growth. The actual figures, however, showed that just shy of 250,000 new jobs were created in September. The report almost instantaneously boosted US equities as well as the USD, but those gains were short-lived to say the least.

More Poor Data From Europe

A mainstay in the marketplace of late has been consistently poor economic data from Europe. The region, generally speaking, is doing poor from an economic standpoint and things are not getting any better. Just yesterday, it was reported that German factory output during August declined by about 4%. Experts were expecting a decline in factory output, but forecast a downward shift of about 1.5%. The overwhelmingly poor data is in line with recent EU performance and only adds fuel to the fire regarding the need for policy shifts such that deflationary pressure can be quelled. Over the course of the coming weeks and months, we, as well as the rest of the market, will keep a close eye on any and all data coming from Europe.

At present, the currently loose monetary policies instilled by the European Central Bank have not done much to spur economic growth. What they have done, however, is drive down the value of the Euro currency and allow the USD to make great strides forward. If looser policies are enacted, the US Dollar may be able to make even more strides against the EU’s currency. Unfortunately for precious metals, however, the diverging monetary policies of the US and the EU are doing more in the way of limiting buying pressure than anything else. This is a major part of the reason behind why spot values now are just a shadow of what they were 4 or 5 months ago.

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October 1st Midweek Silver Market Update

After 2 consecutive days of losses, precious metals were able to bounce back and record solid gains on Wednesday. Admittedly, there hasn’t been too much economic data on the slate this week, but that will all change come tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately, however, the market bears are still in control and spot values are continuing to feel pressure.

Though economic data has been light through the first half of the week, there has been a lot going on on the geopolitical front. Beginning late last week and carrying through to today, citizens of Hong Kong have taken to the streets in protest of what they are calling a lack of democratic reforms. The protests have, at times, turned violent, but in recent days have been somewhat peaceful. Regardless, the unrest in the financial capital of the world has caused world equity markets to move noticeably downward. It will be interesting to see what kind of extended impact, if any, this has on the marketplace.

Market Looks Ahead to A Flurry of Economic Activity

The first half of this week has been fairly quiet from an economic standpoint, but tomorrow will change that as the European Central Bank is set to convene for their monthly policy meeting. In recent weeks, most of the data stemming from the EU has been poor and the world is wondering what the ECB will do, if anything, in order to effectively bring about economic recovery to the European Union. At present, however, no one is really expecting the ECB to make any major policy shifts simply because a policy shift was enacted only a few months ago.

On Friday, the market’s attention will shift to the release of September’s US employment report. As it stands, the market is expecting to see a healthy number of jobs added to the US economy. With that said, however, recent economic data is such that no one can really be confident in the strength of the US economy. Though I imagine Friday’s data will have some impact on the spot values of precious metals, I cannot say with any confidence that benefit will be derived by gold nor silver. Still, it will be interesting to see if metals can hang on to today’s gains as the week plays out.