Gold and silver spent most of the first half of the week trading sideways, but by the time the FOMC meeting wrapped up and the post-meeting statement was made, spot values dropped significantly. On Thursday, things only got worse as upbeat economic data from the United States was made public.

As it stands now, the upbeat nature of the US economy is not doing gold and silver any favors. Risk-appetite has ticked up considerably and whenever that proves to be the case, gold and silver usually suffer. As we look ahead to next week, it will be interesting to see if metals can bounce back from this week’s late losses or if pressure that is currently piling on will only continue to grow worse.

FOMC Statement Does Metals No Favors

The tide really began to turn against precious metals upon the release of the FOMC’s post-meeting statement on Wednesday afternoon. Though the fact that the Fed was doing away with quantitative easing did not really surprise anyone, the upbeat outlook on the US economy described by the FOMC did. While the same language was used, saying that it will still be “considerable time” until interest rates in the US are raised, the Fed surprised everyone by saying that the US economy is showing signs of significant improvement.

In the immediate wake of the FOMC’s statement, gold and silver spot values declined slightly. While it was clear to see that metals were not receiving any benefits as a result of the FOMC statement, things only got worse on Thursday.

Upbeat Economic Data Dooms Metals

As if Wednesday’s FOMC statement wasn’t enough, the precious metals market was dealt another setback yesterday in the form of the most recent batch of US economic data. According to reports, the US economy grew by far more than expected during the 3rd-quarter of 2014. In fact, this most recent US economic progress caps off the best 6-month run the US economy has seen in more than a decade.

Adding to that was a separate report claiming that October filings for unemployment benefits were the lowest seen in more than 14 years. As expected, yesterday’s data not only gave the US Dollar a boost, but also helped stock indexes surge to record-highs. Now, it seems as though the interest the market had in gold and silver less than a week ago has just evaporated into thin air.