Gold and silver spot values were able to halt their respective declines in the early morning hours of Wednesday thanks to some better than expected Chinese economic data. After the first two days of this week saw precious metals, including platinum and palladium, do little else besides decline in value, most figured something would have to give eventually. While massive amounts of value have been lost, it is at least mildly encouraging to see metals fighting back on Wednesday in order to mitigate early week losses.

Janet Yellen Addresses Catch Market’s Complete Attention

The market’s biggest concern coming into this week was with regard to Janet Yellen’s semi-annual addresses to Congress. After last week’s FOMC minutes from their June meeting failed to offer any valuable insight into if and when interest rates in the United States would be raised, attention naturally shifted to the Fed chairperson’s scheduled speeches.

Yesterday provided investors with a bit of new information as well as a bit of information that was already more or less known by the whole of the investing world. Ms. Yellen’s address to Congress on Tuesday was two-fold; first, she began by reiterating the FOMC’s intentions of abandoning Quantitative Easing entirely before they meet for their October policy meeting. This news had little impact on the marketplace as it was already more or less known that QE was on its way out before long.

The second part of her address, however, gave investors exactly what they were looking for. Yellen held that so long as the US employment sector continue to show noticeable signs of improvement over the course of the next few months, the Fed may have no choice but to raise interest rates. This small bit of information was perceived by the market as meaning that interest rates in the United States will, in all likelihood, be raised sooner than what was originally anticipated. Her hawkish remarks ended up prompting follow-through selling of gold and silver only one day after both metals conceded a plethora of value. In her remarks today, Ms. Yellen did what most people expected her to do and simply reiterated statements made a day ago. Now, investor attention will continue to be fixated on Ms. Yellen as she prepares for the all-important question and answer session with members of Congress.

As we head into the latter half of the week, the market will continue to be fixated on the price movement of precious metals. While it now seems that the bears have technical control of the market at present, any number of ongoing geopolitical events stands the chance of dousing the risk-appetite fire and once again instilling strong safe-haven demand. Chief amongst these ongoing geopolitical developments is the continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip by Israeli rockets and air strikes. With a Palestinian civilian death toll of more than 180 at present, things are only deteriorating further with each passing day. Oddly enough, however, the market seems to have paid only marginal attention to this situation as risk-appetite continues to flourish this week.

Gold and silver are trading upwards during the first half of Wednesday as a result of chart-based buying and a renewed safe-haven demand. Platinum and palladium, both of which have been doing well this week, are also trading up today, but only slightly. The big piece of news being made public today and this week is the release of the FOMC’s minutes from their latest meeting.

Generally speaking, this week has been a quiet one from a trading standpoint and is playing host to very few major economic data points. However annoying, this type of market atmosphere is normal for summer as most traders are on vacation or otherwise away from their offices.

US Dollar Rebounds, But Only Slightly

The US Dollar is putting a halt to losses conceded earlier this week to the yen as investors continue to speculate with regard to when interest rates in the United States will be raised. With many people expecting to hear news of higher interest rates before next year as a result of today’s FOMC minutes, it makes sense that the Dollar is regaining some of the value it lost to a stronger yen.

On the other hand, however, the euro added to three days of consecutive gains against the Dollar as it approaches a key technical price point.

US Equities Improve, But Worries Still Linger

After recording large losses on both Monday and Tuesday, investors were worried about the immediate future of US equities. The DOW, S&P 500, and Nasdaq have all been on an upward trend over the course of the last few months and, as such, investors and market analysts alike are beginning to wonder when the bullish run will end and equities correct themselves lower. In the wake of last week and the first few days of this week, many were convinced that a downward shift of US equity markets was just around the corner. Today, however, equity markets are posting gains and are exhibiting the near-term technical momentum many thought had already run out.

Investors may not know when the bullish stock market run will end, but most of them are convinced that something has to give soon.

More Violence In the Middle East Pushes Metals Forward

With all this talk of potentially raised interest rates in the US coming before long, it is coming as a surprise to many that metals are trading upwards today.

A major reason behind today’s gains is safe-haven demand coming as a result of more violence in the Middle East. While the Iraqi civil war has been a focal point of the market’s attention for the past few weeks, this time we are paying more attention to violence in Israel. The Israeli military, in response to increased rocket fire from Palestinians, has launched a large-scale offensive on may parts of the Gaza Strip. With the verbal threat of more violence to come already out in the open, many investors are scrambling to get their hands on safe-haven precious metals.

Though the situation in Israel is still unfolding, it has already produced a hefty amount of violence, death, and destruction. For these reasons and more, we and the rest of the market will continue to keep a close eye on all that happens in and around Gaza.

Gold and silver spot values are hovering near even but have still found some room to make gains on Wednesday. A few factors are impeding the progress of metals, but it is clear to see that they have the near-term technical momentum and will be riding that wave as far as it takes them. Despite the week’s major economic data expected to be made public tomorrow, today brought with it a few reports worth noting, including the ADP employment report for June.

The ongoing civil war in Iraq is still on the minds of investors from around the world, but a slight decrease in the amount of violence has caused the market to focus elsewhere this week. With US military advisers on the ground and more to come, most are anticipating that it will not be too long before the Iraqi civil war makes its way back to the headlines. Safe-haven demand stemming from Iraq has also taken a step backwards, but is still definitely a factor helping keep spot values buoyed.

Investors Looking Forward To Thursday’s Economic Data

Due to this trading week being shortened for most Americans as a result of the Independence Day holiday falling on Friday, a lot of key economic data will be published tomorrow. Perhaps more important than any other economic report on the slate for tomorrow is the United States’ employment report for June. Currently, the market is expecting to see job growth figures somewhere in the neighborhood of 215,000, but after today’s upbeat ADP employment report those expectations might just be a bit higher. Shattering market expectations, today’s ADP employment report showed that more than 280,000 jobs were added to the US economy last month. This news alone was enough to mute the gains being made by precious metals.

Also happening tomorrow is the European Central Bank’s monthly policy meeting. Despite no one expecting much of anything to come as a result of tomorrow’s meeting, investors will still be paying close attention in order to see if the ECB addresses recent economic reports which suggest deflation is still very much a problem for the EU economy. A report released today indicated that producer prices fell by .1% in April and were down by 1% on an annual basis. While it is understood that recent changes to monetary policy instituted by the ECB may take a little while to have a noticeable impact on the marketplace, most investors were under the impression that things would at least begin to change sooner rather than later.

While this is a short trading week, it is set to pack more action in four days than the last few weeks have packed into 5.

Despite some early profit-taking from recent gains, gold and silver were able to bounce back and finish the day near even. The market’s focus remains on the violence in Iraq, but was drawn away a bit today as some US economic data surfaced.

As we head into the latter stages of the week it is likely that we will continue paying attention to the geopolitical unrest in both Ukraine and Iraq. Neither situation is close to being resolved, and, as such, it will remain to be in the headlines for the foreseeable future.

US Economic Data Has Little Impact On Market, Safe-Haven Demand Remains Strong

This week is not at all scheduled to emit major economic data, but today played host to the release of the United States’ 1st quarter GDP report. The data was less than stellar as it showed a nearly 3% annual decline, the largest such decline in a few years. Piling on the poor economic data was a report indicating a 1% decline in durable goods orders in May. This news played right into the hands of those who think tapering should be slowed and that the Fed should step back from their current course. This news was an underlying bullish factor for precious metals and ended up providing a nice lift from the pull of early morning profit-taking.

The civil war in Iraq continues to rage on as reports are filing in with regard to the first US military advisers landing in Baghdad. While it is still unclear what type of assistance these advisers are going to provide, they will be welcomed by open arms from an Iraqi security force that has been decimated over the past few weeks. As the Islamic militant group ISIS continues to make its way further south and closer to the capital city of Baghdad, they have reportedly been spreading out and making themselves more difficult to attack.

As we head further into the week, the market’s main focus will remain continuously focused on Iraq and all of the developments there.

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.

The best way to describe the precious metals market at present is frozen. Spot values have not done entirely too much moving over the past week or so and with this week already shaping up to be extremely quiet, it is very likely that we will continue to see much of the same throughout the duration of the week. When the week’s most highly anticipated piece of economic data is the United States’ weekly jobless claims report you know it is a slow go.

As we approach the end of the day on Wednesday, it is looking like gold and silver will both finish marginally higher, but not by any great amount. Short-covering is still being seen as a factor around the marketplace but, as today has clearly shown, it is not enough to have much in the way of a positive impact on precious metals’ spot values.

Frozen Marketplace Keeps Metals Grounded

After surging stock markets and a stronger US Dollar drove gold and silver spot values significantly lower more than two weeks ago, neither metal has been able to recover. Equity markets around the world have remained in their elevated positions and are continuing to prevent gold nor silver from making anything in the way of positive gains. Investors are currently describing the marketplace as “frozen”, meaning that new catalysts capable of initiating price action are presently being awaited.

US equities sold off at a considerable rate today, and this was something that may have given gold and silver their slight upside boost. Violence in Iraq is also picking up as of the last week or so as armed men have taken a hold of some northern parts of the country. This could prove to bring about some safe-haven demand for metals, but such has yet to be seen as the violence in Iraq is still a periphery concern for the market at present.

As the week wears on, investors are expecting much of the same with regard to how quiet the world marketplace has been. There are no major pieces of economic data on the slate for Thursday nor Friday and investors will instead continue to analyze the movement of major equity markets from across the globe.

Gold and silver spot values have regained a bit of ground through the early parts of Wednesday, fueled mostly by a weaker US employment report for May. Despite their small gains made early this morning, the last week or more has been almost completely adversarial to precious metals. The reason for this is due to speculation surrounding tomorrow’s meeting of the European Central Bank.

Also not helping the prospects of precious metals has been the lack of news with regard to the crisis in Ukraine. Now that matters in the large European nation have calmed down a bit, safe-haven demand for precious metals is more or less non-existent. As we all know, this could change in the blink of an eye, but for now the Ukrainian crisis is sitting comfortably on the back-burner of the marketplace’s attention.

US Jobs Data Gives Metals A Boost, ECB Meeting Looming

As is usually the case with the first full trading week of any month, this 5-day session was expected to emit a large quantity of economic data, and it has so far. Today, investors were greeted with the ADP employment report for the US for May. Compared to expected job additions of more than 210,000, the actual figures showed that only about 179,000 new jobs were added to the US economy last month. This number isn’t terrible, but because it fell short of the market’s expectations it was always going to be beneficial for precious metals.

The Fed’s beige book is due out later today, though all signs are pointing towards it being more of a non-factor for precious metals than anything else.

The biggest economic event happening this week, however, will come tomorrow in the form of the latest European Central Bank policy meeting, where investors are anticipating that a major announcement will be made. Despite it seeming like investors are almost always anticipating some major news to come as a result of these meetings, this time around it seems as though the expectations of the investing world might be met. Due to rising deflationary pressures, of which have been hanging around Europe for more than a year now, many market analysts and investors alike are convinced that the ECB will announce its plans to implement new monetary stimulus sometime in the near future. Though this is not set in stone quite yet, an overwhelming majority of the market feels as though this is exactly what will come as a result of tomorrow’s meeting.

If the ECB does, in fact, decide to implement new monetary stimulus, it is generally agreed that such a move will not be beneficial for precious metals spot values. The reason for this is due to the fact that monetary stimulus in Europe will drive the value of the euro currency downward, thus giving the US Dollar room to make significant strides forward. If the Dollar continues to build up even more momentum than it has already, there is a very high likelihood that such an event will not bode well for gold and silver.

Still, there are those who believe that new monetary stimulus in Europe will, as has been the case in the past, provide raw commodities with a boost. This is not very likely, but it is without a doubt a possible outcome anytime stimulus is mentioned with regard to a major world economy.

Despite today being Wednesday, we are only in the midst of the second trading day of this week due to the celebration of the Memorial Day holiday, which happened on Monday. While this may only be the second day of the week, gold and silver have suffered unparalleled losses and are continuing to decline.

Not helping precious metals at all was a slate of US economic news yesterday, most of which came back much better than market expectations. Despite this, there is a growing sense among investors that the US economy is not growing at the rate many had expected before the onset of this year. Because of this, these same investors are convinced that the Fed must rethink how it is going about tapering Quantitative Easing.

Risk-Appetite On The Rise In Europe, The US

Over the course of the past week or so, the market has become increasing risk-hungry, something that has seen investing funds flow out of solid, safe-haven assets such as gold and silver and into world stock indexes. World stock indexes have been trading up lately and have been seen hitting multi-month and year highs. As is almost always the case, surging equity markets almost always put a damper on the progress of precious metals.

Another bearish factor for precious metals this week has been the continually deescalating tensions in Ukraine. Just this past weekend, elections were held in order to determine Ukraine’s next, official president. Though these reports have not yet been confirmed, early reports are saying that Ukrainian billionaire Petro Poroshenko is set to take over the country’s reigns. Add this to the fact that Russia has recently made moves to bring about a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Ukraine and you have a crisis that is fading from the headlines and becoming more of a regional issue. What was once a crisis that fueled safe-haven demand for precious metals has now become a non-factor for most precious metals investors.

As we head into the last few days of the week it will be interesting to see what direction precious metals head in. The losses incurred over the last few days may be lending credibility to the belief that spot values are on the verge of pegging lower. As it stands, spot gold is in the neighborhood of $1,250/ounce while silver is edging lower, closer to $19/ounce. This week is not expected to be a big one from an economic data standpoint, meaning that the market  bears will more than likely remain in control for the foreseeable future.

Gold and silver spot values are edging lower on Wednesday as investors await the release of the latest FOMC minutes. Seeing as the FOMC minutes are the only noteworthy piece of US economic data due out this week, it makes sense that investors are awaiting them so anxiously.

The crisis in Ukraine is not completely out of the news, but it has calmed down significantly from where it was a little more than a week ago. Just this Monday, Russian president Vladimir Putin called upon troops stationed along the Ukrainian border to return to their home bases. Up until this week, Russia was building up a strong military presence along their border with Ukraine in order to put more pressure on the Ukrainian military. Now that the Russian military is no longer a real threat to Ukraine per se, many believe that the Ukrainian military will more readily fight to oust pro-Russian rebels who have taken up positions in large portions of eastern and southern Ukraine.

FOMC Minutes Anxiously Awaited Upon By Investors

As we approach midday on Wednesday, investors are looking forward to the release of the latest FOMC minutes from their May policy meeting. Very few people are expecting to hear any news with regard to changes in US monetary policy, but the minutes, as they always are, will be hawked over by investors regardless. It is the opinion of many that today’s FOMC minutes will do nothing more than reiterate the Fed’s positive outlook on the US economy.

This prevailing belief is causing US equities to edge higher while T-bond yields are on the decline. If T-bond yields continue to fall, we may see an increasing number of market analysts question the actual strength of the US economy. Bond yields have long been a real indicator of economic strength, and if they continue to fall we will have no choice but to question how strong the US economy really is.

Similar economic concerns have been plaguing Europe as of late and are equally as important to worldwide investors. Even though this week has been quiet from an economic standpoint, it is looking more and more like the next few weeks will keep the market occupied.

Gold and silver have been trading sharply higher to begin the day but have since begun falling back to earth. Though this week is not expected to yield all that much economic data, today might very well be the exception. There has been a slew of data from Europe already released while the United States added its own report to ensure that investors would be busy all day today.

The crisis in Ukraine is still catching the attention of the marketplace but as no new developments have taken place thus far this week. Last Sunday a referendum vote took place that unofficially decided the fate of the Donetsk region of Ukraine. According to the vote, which was put on by pro-Russian rebels who have occupied the region, more than 90% of those who participated voted in favor of leaving Ukraine. Having said this, however, there are still widespread allegations that this referendum as well as the one that decided Crimea’s fate were rigged by the rebels who sanctioned them. For this reason and many more, investors will continue to keep a close eye on any and all developments stemming from Ukraine.

European Economic Data Intensifies Deflation Concerns

In the early morning hours of today the European Union’s latest industrial production numbers were made public for March. During the month of March, the EU’s industrial production was down by .3% and was down by about .1% on an annual basis. Germany’s consumer prices took a .2% hit in April but were up by more than 1% year on year. Finally, in France, consumer prices remained unchanged in April and were also slightly up on an annualized basis. Though these reports were not particularly awful, they did do well to increase worries with regard to widespread deflation across Europe. For this reason it is widely believed that the European Central Bank will implement some sort of monetary stimulus measure at next month’s policy meeting.

In other news, producer prices in the US were up by more than a half percent in April. As a result of rising producer prices the US Dollar took a bit of a dive today. The US Dollar has not really been performing well as of late and today’s decline allowed gold and silver to take advantage and post some gains themselves. As we head into the latter part of the week it will be interesting to see if precious metals are able to retain their current spot values or if they will fall right back down to where they were at the beginning of the week. As it stands, spot gold is just barely above $1,300/ounce while silver is just a few cents shy of finally breaking through the $20/ounce threshold once more.