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Sep 30

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – September 23-27, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,325.30
Weekly High: $1,340.30
Weekly Low: $1,307.40
Friday Close: $1,336.30

After last week’s short-lived rally, gold spun its wheels a little bit on uncertain U.S. economic forecasts and an uneventful world marketplace. The ups and downs were slight and no major news entered the radar of gold, but trading is once again taking on a bearish light.

Monday saw the week open on technical selling pressure from last week’s gains and a continuation of the conversation about when the Fed really will begin its bond tapering program. Similarly, the U.S. debt ceiling debate could be bearish for gold in the coming weeks. Germany re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel to a third term, which could indicate further economic stability in the region, another bearish factor for gold. Meanwhile, China reported strong economic growth, also bearish for gold.

Tuesday morning New York Fed President William Dudley told CNBC that the Fed could begin its bond tapering program by the end of 2013 and conclude quantitative easing by 2014.

Wednesday saw positive mixed economic data come out of the U.S., including new residential home sales at a high, though Thursday’s reports were a mixed bag. Weekly jobless claims were lower, while GDP for the third quarter was weaker than expected. More “Fed speak” this week included Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker announcing that he supports bond tapering and is surprised it has not already begun.

By Friday, the U.S. debt ceiling issue had gained some momentum, with the U.S. government aimed to partially shut down the next week if Congress does not pass a budget.

Sep 09

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – September 2-6, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,389.90
Weekly High: $1,415.20
Weekly Low: $1,366.90
Friday Close: $1,389.20

Tensions in Syria continued to influence gold this week, and other global economic news also registered on gold’s radar.

Monday was a quiet day as U.S. traders stepped away from their computers for the Labor Day holiday. Overall, the yellow metal was little changed on the first day of the week.

Tuesday began the upward swing of the week, with traders returning to their desks to sweep up some of the lower gold prices for short-term trading. The continued question of a military strike on Syria was slightly revved up on Tuesday, as it seemed Congress might support President Obama’s plan to attack Syria for using chemical weapons. Traders returned to the gold market Tuesday on some increased safe haven buying.

Tensions eased slightly on Wednesday, causing some pullback from the stress trading. Prices also dipped on profit taking from the previous day’s wins. The U.S. Federal Reserve released an economic report Wednesday afternoon that showed the U.S. economy officially growing mildly to moderately, depending on sector. This news was not surprising, so it did little to affect market conditions.

Thursday morning was quiet on the gold trading front as traders anticipated a slew of U.S. economic data to be released in the afternoon. Sure enough, this data was positive and so caused a slump in the gold market. The reports included the weekly jobless claims report, the ADP national employment report, chain store sales trends, and more.

Even so, it was the U.S. jobs report Friday morning that people were anticipating, since many believe a positive report can influence the Fed to start their tapering program earlier rather than later. It was good news for gold bugs, however, with the unemployment rate falling one point to 7.3%, which was still behind expectations. The decrease was also not because people were getting new jobs but because people were leaving the work force, according to analysts. The non-farm payroll report was also lower than expected. Therefore, Friday afternoon saw prices rise to end the week near to where it began.

The Syrian conflict and the Federal Reserve’s decision about when to start the tapering program will likely influence gold prices next week.

Aug 05

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – July 29-August 2, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,328.70
Weekly High: $1,336.40
Weekly Low: $1,285.10
Friday Close: $1,307.90

The week began in anticipation of major economic news the rest of the week and a high opening statement on Monday. The dollar hit a five-week low on Monday, causing gold to start out on a slight upswing. Tuesday flipped the switch and gold endured modest losses as those outside markets turned bearish – the dollar rose and crude oil sank.

The first big news of the week occurred on Wednesday when the FOMC released their minutes and some key U.S. economic data came out. Wednesday’s price of gold took a slip from these two points, mainly the latter. U.S. gross domestic product for the second quarter reported higher-than-expected numbers, ranking at 1.7$ instead of 0.9%. The monthly ADP jobs report also showed gains, reporting 200,000 new jobs instead of the expected 180,000. The FOMC minutes were still accommodative to gold, with Chairman Ben Bernanke waiting on pushing the tapering program ahead. The new expected start date for the long-anticipated change to Federal Reserve monetary policy, which would be extremely bearish for gold, has been now circulating as around September.

Thursday regained some of those losses as Europe started off on some positive trading deals with the U.S. and gold traders were bolstered by the final closing statement from Bernanke that came out after the traing day had ended. There was no mention of any start date for the tapering program in this statement, a good sign for gold bugs.

Friday, however, undid all the gains of the week and slipped down below the $1,300 mark on very strong U.S. economic data. U.S. manufacturing data and jobless claims reports pushed gold down, further exacerbating worries that positive economic reports will influence an earlier decision by the FOMC.

Jul 08

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – July 1-5 2013

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Monday Open: $1,252.60
Weekly High: $1,263.00
Weekly Low: $1,209.80
Friday Close: $1,222.20

Gold continued its downward streak this week, but not without a little momentum upwards first. Monday opened the week on a sharp rally as traders jumped in to take advantage of some short covering from last week’s dramatic losses. The first day of the week hit the week’s high, and if the price would have continued upwards after that, it might have been a sign that gold would have hit its bottom, but Tuesday marked another decline.

The bargain hunting from Monday gave way to a strong selling pressure on Tuesday as the U.S. dollar pushed up to a four-week high. The U.S. dollar and the Federal Reserve’s plan to soon pull back on their quantitative easing program seem to be the major indicators of a continued loss for gold. As the U.S. economy improves, the yellow metal suffers losses as a hedge fund as traders venture into different territory.

Traders are also watching the political situation in Egypt, and the price of gold meandered a little higher by the end of Tuesday. If the crisis in Cairo reaches critical mass, gold could become desirable once again as a safe haven. China is also in gold news, as physical demand for gold seems to be petering off.

Markets went virtually unchanged Thursday, as U.S. trading took a pause on July 4th for the Independence Day holiday. Wednesday showed an equal amount of inaction as many traders started celebrating early.

Friday saw gold take a drop as significantly positive U.S. unemployment data rolled in. The unemployment report was very strong, marking an increase of 195,000 new jobs during the month of June, when only 155,000 to 166,000 were expected. The negative spin on a recovering economy is a lackluster performance from gold. However, analysts predict that even this news isn’t enough to push the Fed to start their tapering program right away, and put expectations for a start date around October.

Next week, focus will be on next moves from the Federal Reserve.

Jun 10

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – June 3-7, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,410.60
Weekly High: $1,417.00
Weekly Low: $1,378.40
Friday Close: $1,378.40

Gold experienced another faltering week, failing to break through the $1,350-$1,400 price bracket. Some traders were hoping to see the yellow metal push through by the end of week, but other forecasters are touting the end of the gold bubble and prices dropping down to $1,000 in the near future.

Monday saw slight gains as the dollar hit a three-week low. The whole week was primarily characterized by gold’s relationship to the dollar. China and Japan also lended some economic data to the short rise in gold at the beginning of the week, with stock markets from these countries fluctuating slightly.

Tuesday turned this gain around on a technical correction; traders started pulling out the market after Monday’s advance. Wednesday was also noneventful for the price of gold, as the market saw some gains, but was primarily focused on anticipating the Federal Reserve’s announcements on Thursday and U.S. monthly economic reports due on Friday.

The Federal Reserve meeting contained no surprises, and therefore did not affect the gold market. Thursday, however, spiked up to the week’s high as traders expected poor results from Friday’s jobs reports. A lower dollar supported this move, and the U.S. stock market was generally not performing well on Thursday, adding more reason to buy back into the safe haven of gold.

Yet, Friday undid all of these hopeful advances when the U.S. economic report announced growth in the manufacturing sector and one basis point of a percentage higher on the unemployment rate (now at 7.6%) as more people have returned to looking for work. Gold maintained steady Friday morning, ahead of the reports, but this precious metal quickly fell in the afternoon as the rally some hoped for did not happen.

Apr 08

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – April 1-5, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,598.80
Weekly High: $1,602.70
Weekly Low: $1,542.80
Friday Close: $1,579.70

Despite continuing turmoil in North Korea and a few other global economic factors that might boost the price of gold as a safe haven, the yellow metal didn’t fare well this week. By mid-week, gold had hit a 10-month low, but gained enough to close the week in the $1,550 to $1,600 range.

Monday was a slow trading day due to the Easter holiday, but gold still took a modest gain from a weak dollar index and some safe-haven buying in response to the escalating conflicts in North Korea. The U.S. also released some economic reports from the manufacturing industry on Monday, which were lower than expected, also adding to the slight gains.

By Tuesday, however, the price of gold started to deteriorate and continued to plunge through Wednesday. No significant external price factors caused this tanking; heavy chart-based selling and automatic sell stop orders accounted for the sudden shift. General economic gains across the developed world may have a long-term impact on the lessening of interest in gold. Surprisingly, conflict in North Korea has not led to droves of demand for the safety of gold. Wednesday’s price point was a fresh 10-month low.

Thursday remained primarily unchanged, though a weaker dollar index pushed the price up to keep it around a level $1,555. Gold traders are tending to sell of their Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in the gold market, according to reports on the first quarter of 2013. However, some bargain hunters are also entering the market to pick up physical gold.

Gold took a slight boost on Friday as weak U.S. employment data hit the news stands, indicating that the Federal Reserve will most likely not change their loose monetary policies anytime soon. The week’s dip in prices is also leading to increased interested in physical gold, especially in India and China.

Feb 11

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – February 4-8, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,674.40
Weekly High: $1,683.70
Weekly Low: $1,666.90
Friday Close: $1,668.80

It was a very choppy week for gold that ended on a slightly lower note than it opened. Rife with economic news from China, the U.S. and the European Central Bank, gold did some flips this week and continued its streak of general volatility.

Monday was the quietest day of the week, with just a few outside factors sparking a bearish lull, including a higher dollar and lower crude oil.

Tuesday’s price shot straight up midday on news from China that their new gold flow into the country had risen 47% in 2012 to an all-time high. Central banks across the world have been buying gold for their reserves, so China’s continuation of this trend was a positive sign for the general price of gold. However, the price shot straight down again after positive economic news from the U.S. and the euro zone economy. The euro zone showed stability and growth in January, the best in 10 months, and a fiscal report was released from the U.S. that predicts the national budget to drop to $845 billion in 2013, a major shift from the trend of trillions-plus. These were both signs to gold investors to move into the equity market, causing a price shift downward.

Wednesday showed slight gains on technical trading and short covering, but it was also a fairly uneventful day as traders awaited the outcome of Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting.

Thursday proved as choppy as Tuesday, starting in the morning with Mario Draghi, ECB president, speaking on the improved state of the European economy, though still hinting at reservations for the euro. This sunk the euro, pushing gold up. Then, however, U.S. jobless claims reports came in and showed significant improvement in unemployment, the claims report falling 5,000 short of expectations. Gold dropped. Yet, the price of gold didn’t stay down long as bargain hunters entered the market to buy up stocks at the lower price.

Gold ended slightly lower on Friday on a higher dollar and a rise in U.S. equities.

Feb 04

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – January 28-February 1, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,654.50
Weekly High: $1,681.90
Weekly Low: $1,654.50
Friday Close: $1,667.90

It was a good week for gold after many U.S. economic reports and the Federal Reserve’s regular meeting concurred that the U.S. economy is not yet in a state of repair strong enough to push down gold. Following a bearish decline from last week, this week closed on a higher note than it opened.

Monday started off sluggish, a little flat on a relatively strong dollar. Most of Monday was spent in anticipation of news to come later in the week. Tuesday rallied a little bit as the dollar sunk slightly, and a Consumer Confidence report revealed worse than expected economic data – a 58.6 rating, well below the 64.0 expected mark.

Wednesday was the real day of growth for gold this week. The price of gold was bolstered by the Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting, in which Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated the low interest rates and bond-buying program that was set in motion at the end of last year. Concerns have arisen lately that the Fed might pull back on their quantitative easing should the economy show considerable improvement, but the U.S. GDP report released this week showed that the country’s economy had actually contracted 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2012. Bernanke confirmed that interest rates would remain negligible until unemployment hits 6.5%.

Unfortunately for gold, the yellow metal gave back all its gains on Thursday, despite bullish factors in the marketplace like a weak dollar and poor economic data. Though no one single external factor can be pinpointed for this loss, the drop was probably due to profit-taking from short-term traders.

Friday saw a continued release of negative U.S. economic data, which gave a small spike to the price of gold. The U.S. jobless claims report missed their mark by 38,000, ticking the unemployment rate up to 7.9%. However, later in the day a stronger manufacturing report was released, undoing many of the slight gains that had occurred earlier in the day.

Next week, gold is predicted to stay in the $1,650 to $1,700 range, with the European Central Bank meeting on traders’ radar.

Jan 21

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – January 14-18, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,667.80
Weekly High: $1,694.10
Weekly Low: $1,667.80
Friday Close: $1,684.30

It was a good week for gold. After continued hums in the marketplace questioning gold’s volatility, January is proving to be a bull month for this yellow metal. Gold gained 1.6% this week, its highest move since November 2012. This follows last week’s 0.3% gain, which ended a six-week long losing spree. Speculation still abounds about gold’s true winning capacity, but so far, the market is showing slow but steady gains.

Monday opened with the low of the week and shot steadily upwards through Tuesday. On Tuesday morning, news broke that platinum was trading higher than gold, a rare phenomenon that last occurred March 2012. Platinum hit $1,702 while gold stayed around $1,682. Platinum rose largely due to the halting of some major mines, increasing desire for the metal. Gold responded little on Tuesday, but as platinum hit its seventh bullish day on Wednesday, gold did take a little drop.

Thursday’s drastic price fall can be attributed to the U.S. weekly jobless claims report, which was significantly better than expected. However, gold quickly rebounded a little while later in the day after U.S. manufacturing data revealed unexpected contraction.

Though the fiscal cliff crisis has passed, Credit Suisse analyst Tom Kendall pinpoints the U.S. debt ceiling as a major factor for gold. He assesses the situation as being positive for gold, since the U.S. faces downgrades from credit agencies, and thus a stronger investment in hedge funds. It will also get people thinking about the long-term value of the dollar, which will most likely turn out to be bullish for gold. The debt ceiling debate is on the horizon for the end of February.

Friday consolidated the week’s gains to end on a high note. Amid the trading activity this week, a few major investment companies added further speculative projections for gold in 2013. The projections vary drastically, as Goldman Sachs downgraded its 2013 gold prediction to $1,200, while successful gold producer Iamgold upgraded its projections to $2,500. Falling smack dab in the middle, metals consultancy firm GFMS predicted a bullish year for gold, anticipating $1,900 in the first two quarters. This firm cites strong demand from central governments and increased buying from India and China as factors for growth.

Despite hesitation in the market, the overall sentiment still maintains a positive light. Analysts at UBS, a Canadian financial firm, summed up Friday’s gains by stating, “The physical market is off to a good start this year, with many indicators so far pointing to a positive demand story.”