Tag Archives: weekly gold prices

Jun 17

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – June 10-14, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,385.10
Weekly High: $1,394.50
Weekly Low: $1,368.10
Friday Close: $1,390.60

The price of gold was characterized this week by fluctuating economic news from various world markets. A few key moves were bullish for gold, while others reinforced the bearish streak to end the week without much drastic movement.

Monday began on bullish anticipation that China’s decision to buy two gold-backed exchange-traded products (ETFs) would push up demand for the yellow metal. China was the second largest consumer of gold in 2012 worldwide, so analysts expect this is a good thing for long-term gold prospects, however, we should not expect a huge rally in the near future. China’s ETF buy, rather, provides some stability for the continuation of gold demand.

Also, Standard & Poors upgraded the U.S. credit ranking to stable from previously negative on Monday morning, which boosted the dollar short-term, but did not have a wide effect on gold. China released some raw economic data that was weaker than expected, a subtle bearish factor for the raw commodities.

The Bank of Japan was the big catalyst for Tuesday’s loss, spurring some trading out of the market overnight. The bank decided not to expand its current quantitative easing program, as some had hoped, which pulled gold prices down. However, Bank Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said they might consider it again if their borrowing costs go up.

Wednesday morning was trading in the same ballpark as Tuesday, but saw some gains by the evening. It was a quieter trading day Wednesday, with the “risk-off” mentality making way for some technical short covering later in the day, as a weaker dollar incurred some buying back into gold.

Thursday was a day of speculation, as Japanese stock markets showed some losses and analysts worried whether this would spill over into U.S. trading. Even though gold generally acts as a safe haven during these situations, this week it was carried more heavily by a risk aversion mentality. Currently, economic turmoil is not tense enough to prompt a large shift back into gold.

Friday urged gold a little north as President Obama issued a statement that the U.S. will provide arms to Syrian rebels. This news encouraged traders to think about the possibility of escalation in an already war torn country, which did move some back into the safe haven of gold, ending the week slightly higher than it began.

The marketplace will be anticipating an address from the FOMC next Wednesday.

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.

Jun 03

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – May 27-31, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,394.50
Weekly High: $1,420.70
Weekly Low: $1,379.30
Friday Close: $1,385.50

The price of gold posted its 7th monthly decline in 8 months this week. Gold has always been volatile, but it seems as if this losing streak isn’t going to skyrocket upwards anytime soon.

Monday was a fairly complacent day, but Tuesday experienced some losses against the strong U.S. dollar. However, the losses were minimal for gold as compared with the relatively high place of the greenback, which is a good sign for gold.

Wednesday saw the yellow metal make some gains as the dollar dropped. U.S. Treasury bonds are rising in price this week, hitting the highest in a year, which is a sign of a recovering economy and increased likelihood that the Federal Reserve will soon start to change its loose monetary policy, a prospect that has been on the gold horizon for many months now.

Thursday saw gold continue its upward climb as Asian stock markets declined and sent some people back to the safe haven of gold. Thursday marked a fresh 2-week high for gold, but declined again on Friday on a technical correction. European stock markets reported high unemployment, the U.S. dollar index was firm, and the market place awaited economic data from China on Saturday. Also, the wedding season in India is now over, reducing demand for physical gold.

 

May 27

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – May 20-24, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,393.70
Weekly High: $1,398.30
Weekly Low: $1,360.70
Friday Close: $1,383.90

Still prevalent on gold investors’ radar is how the Federal Reserve may be scaling back their quantitative easing program. This concern factored heavily into the ups and downs of the yellow metal this week.

Monday opened fairly higher to correct the seven-day loss streak from the previous week. Midday Moody’s announced that if the U.S. could not correct its budget and deficit problems by the end of 2013, the credit rating agency may downgrade its credit rating. Gold sparked higher at about this time.

Tuesday saw gold move up past its initial morning low after Federal Reserve at St. Louis President James Bullard announced his recommendation that the FOMC should not completely cut its bond-buying program and instead scale it back if need be. There have been indications from the Federal Reserve that this year may be the end of its quantitative easing (QE3) program, which would be dramatically bearish for gold.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke made an announcement on this point on Wednesday, perhaps confusedly remarking to both sides. He stated that he was still fully in favor of the QE3 program, but later answered a question to the effect that the next few months may see a tapering of policies. The gold market responded more strongly to the latter statement, dropping down to the week’s low.

With the low price from Wednesday, Thursday saw traders selling off in risk aversion, as well as a resurgence of safe haven buying. Friday trading was quiet, perhaps in anticipation of the U.S. Memorial Day weekend.

May 20

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – May 13-17, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,430.80
Weekly High: $1,430.80
Weekly Low: $1,372.30
Friday Close: $1,382.60

Gold experienced one of its worst losing streaks this week, breaking below the $1,400 barrier. The main reason for gold’s losses this week include a generally recovering world economy, specifically a steadily gaining dollar and record stock market highs, as well as indications from the Federal Reserve that the low interest rate policies will be slowly “tapering” out, as is the new buzz word around that topic.

Monday’s opening price of $1,430 was in fact the week’s high. This week marked the longest streak of price decline in four years, while the dollar is experiencing a 9.5 month high. This gold-dollar relationship is one key factor in the drop in gold. The greenback hit a strong stride this week in international affairs, gaining momentum as a more desirable investment than precious metals. The U.S. and Japanese stock markets are hitting significant (record or multi-year) highs, which moves investors away from safe haven assets.

On Wednesday, gold slipped below the psychological threshold of $1,400. Tuesday’s sell offs triggered some automatic sell-stops, and these continued through the rest of the week. There was no particular event or external factor that pushed the yellow metal through this barrier, but rather the continued selling pressure it has already been experiencing.

Another factor that is pushing the price point down is the anticipation of the Federal Reserve to gradually increase interest rates and pull back their quantitative easing program. The Wall Street Journal released a report Friday that confirmed Ben Bernanke and Fed officials have decided upon a strategy to slowly wind down the easy monetary policies. This has been on the horizon for a while, and sources indicate that 2013 will be the year that ends the 0% interest rates and bond-buying programs, or at least slows them down, which would be all around bearish for gold.

On Thursday, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams publicly expressed his tapering of the easy monetary policy. Friday closed the market with a seven-day losing streak and a 4-week low.

However, for all the downsliding in the gold market lately, there is still some demand for physical gold in India and China, especially jewelry, bars and coins.

May 06

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – April 29-May 3, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,468.10
Weekly High: $1,482.30
Weekly Low: $1,440.90
Friday Close: $1,469.40

Gold rebounded somewhat to the nearly $1,500 level this week as economic matters returned to center stage and fresh interest in gold returned. Monday opened with a 1% gain since Friday on a falling dollar. Tuesday was up and down but ended higher on bargain hunting and the declining dollar. U.S. economic reports issued on Tuesday were a mixed bag, but not conclusively positive, spurring more interest back to precious metals.

The big news of the week was the Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday. Gold dropped sharply in anticipation, but bounced back up after the FOMC announced that they were going to maintain both zero percent interest rates and the $85 billion per month bond buying program until the economy picks up. There are no indications from economic data that unemployment will drop anytime soon, and many March reports were weaker than expected. The Fed also made no mention, as previously alluded to, of a near end in sight for their economic policies. These are all bullish factors for gold.

Thursday showed steady gains as traders picked back into the market, and the European Central Bank lowered its interest rates from 0.5% to 0.25%. The Euro zone is also experiencing slow economic growth. Friday’s gold prices slipped down back to near the week’s opening price on better-than-expected U.S. jobs reports. Unemployment dropped to 7.5% in April, the lowest in four years.

Apr 22

Weekly Gold Price Recap – April 15-20, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,360.00
Weekly High: $1,416.50
Weekly Low: $1,331.80
Friday Close: $1,401.00

The gold decline that has been ravaging the market in the past few months, and weeks especially, hit a 2-year low on Monday. From the safe $1,550 to $1,600 range, the yellow metal has been steadily declining, and dropped all the way down to $1,330 this week. This was one of the most devastating and dramatic sell-offs that Wall Street has ever witnessed, and the strange part is that no one is exactly sure why it happened. Ever since gold dropped from its mighty $1,700 position last year, a series of automatic stop-losses has been intermittently bringing the price of gold down. If this drop was due to an automatic price sell-off, it was the biggest one yet.

Other theories as to the price decline include fears of central banks selling off their gold, especially Cyprus, ETF liquidation, global deflation, a strengthening dollar, and other, mysterious hedge funds replacing the safe haven nature of gold. Whatever the cause, or combinations of causes, there were no prominent external factors that contributed to the major price drop that occurred over the weekend and culminated Monday in a sudden 10% decline, more than $200 an ounce. Mostly, analysts attribute the tidal wave of traders exiting the market to “panic selling.” When the price starts to drop, as it did on Friday, hoards of people decide to play the money game safe by protecting their losses.

The rest of the week’s gold news paled in comparison to Monday, and most trading was done simply in recovery from the unexpected price drop. Tuesday regained some strength in short-covering, bargain hunting and a strong demand for physical gold. Since Monday, the price of gold only steadily increased, and a large part of this recovery is due to buyers in Asia, as well as the rest of the world, taking advantage of the low price of gold and buying physical stores in bulk.

The Boston Marathon bombing last week also contributed to already frayed nerves, but by Friday, the day when the one remaining suspect was taken into custody, the price of gold had rebounded to just above $1,400. For all the chaos that occurred on Monday, the gold market had stabilized once again by the end of the week.

Apr 15

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – April 8-12, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,572.70
Weekly High: $1,587.20
Weekly Low: $1,488.30
Friday Close: $1,488.30

Monday opened this week on a strong foundation, but headed toward a drastic 15-month low by the end of the week. The beginning of week floated goal at a pretty steady level, solid from last Friday’s lower-than-expected U.S. economic reports, as well as stimulus reports issued by the Bank of Japan and the still-weak European economy. North Korea is still a wild card and having mild effects on the market.

Tuesday experienced virtually no change in the price of gold, as the market waited for fresh external factors to influence any price changes. There were a few bargain hungers entering the market, but most of the day was spent in anticipation of the Federal Reserve’s minutes on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, gold investors were speculating about how the Fed would handle the recent dips in economic progression, suspecting that the easy monetary policies would remain unchanged. The report was released to the slight dismay of gold bugs; it was slightly bearish because it revealed that the Fed was debating internally when to end the current policies, which means stricter rates may be very near on the horizon. Gold took a dip for it.

Thursday rebound as new blood entered the market after Wednesday’s sharp exodus. The market price of gold stayed fairly level, but news issued by Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Charles Plosser may have had an impact on the severe price drop that occurred on Friday. Though not a voting member of the Federal Reserve, Plosser issued a statement that the Fed would be changing its policies by the end of the year. Concurrently, the dollar and the Japanese stock market hit a high, which is also bearish for gold.

The reason for Friday’s dramatic slip in price was the automatic triggering of stop-losses when the price of gold reached below last week’s strong $1,539 levels. No external factors were the cause of the new 15-month low. It is a trend that has been occurring lately: traders are setting reference points to get out of the gold market, causing increasing downfalls in the selling price.

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.

Mar 11

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

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Monday Open: $1,574.60
Weekly High: $1,584.50
Weekly Low: $1,566.30
Friday Close: $1,578.10

Gold experienced some modest ups and downs this week, but nothing occurred to dramatically alter the price bracket, so the yellow metal ended the week nearly the same as it began.

Monday opened pretty flat, trading around a solid $1,575. Strong economic news from China and steady gold demand continued through to Tuesday, when fresh economic stimulus measures were announced to boost the economy up to a targeted 7.5% GDP. This is a bullish factor for the raw commodity sector, as well as stocks worldwide. However, the price gain was kept in check by the news that the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new all-time record high, which drew interest toward riskier endeavors and away from safe haven investments like gold.

Wednesday saw some gains after the Federal Reserve released news that their economic reports only show moderate to modest economic growth, not enough to put a halt to the aggressively low monetary rates that are currently in place. Gold bugs are delighted on this news because loose Fed policy helps keep gold relevant as a hedge fund.

Thursday held on pretty steadily, with some impetus in trading from a lower U.S. dollar and some positive economic developments in Europe. Mostly, though, traders were awaiting Friday’s employment reports for the month of February.

The sharp dip in prices on Friday was indeed due to Friday’s morning reports of better-than-expected jobs growth and declining unemployment rates. Friday hit a fresh two-week low, but quickly rebounded on short-term bargain hunting and opportunist market-seeking to close the week slightly higher than it began.