Gold and silver have been on the decline throughout the week and have fallen below key price points. As it stands, spot gold is somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,290 while silver is hovering below $20. A quiet 5-day trading session from an economic and geopolitical standpoint gave the technical bears room to take over control of the market.

Stronger equities throughout this week also made it difficult for precious metals to do anything apart from decline. It will be interesting to see if the weekend break brings out bargain-hunting buyers or if a bleaker long-term outlook on metals will continue to drive metals downward.

Lack of Safe-Haven Demand Hurts Spot Gold and Silver

This week offered a healthy dose of US economic data but it all ended up having very little affect on spot gold and silver. Overall, the tone of the economic data stream from the US has recently taken a turn for the better as most reports recently have pointed towards an improving US economy. This news bodes well for US equities, but has in turn put a lot of downward pressure on precious metals. Weekly jobless claims were also reported to have fallen over the course of the week.

As it stands, gold is sitting at a 6-week low and will head into the weekend at low points unanticipated by the market. Over the last week alone the yellow metals has lost over $100 in value. Silver too has experienced a dismal past week or so.

Amid the quieter atmosphere this week, investors continued to concern themselves with what Janet Yellen said in her most recent comments. Ms. Yellen, while speaking after the FOMC meeting, said that she anticipates QE to be completely eliminated by the end of the year and that interest rates in the US may be risen as early as next spring. Higher interest rates will drastically increase the opportunity costs of hanging on to gold in lieu of other assets and thus completely eliminate buying interest. These events are not guaranteed occur, but the thought alone is enough to scare some investors away from precious metals.

After hitting nearly $1,400/ounce last week, it is interesting for investors to see such volatile price movement. Now it comes time for the investing world to focus on April and everything that it may bring. So far, economic data has been improving in the United States, but worries over China’s economy threaten more than just their own economy.