Gold and silver spot values are trading marginally higher to begin the last trading day of the week. There is little on the slate today as far as economic data is concerned, but investors will once more fixate their attention on the crisis in Ukraine as we head into another uncertain weekend. Though the crisis in Ukraine is still far from resolved, it was mostly overshadowed this week by EU economic data as well as speeches made by Vladimir Putin and Janet Yellen.

Crisis In Ukraine Continues To Capture The Market’s Attention

The Ukrainian military has been clashing with pro-Russian rebels since last weekend, but these clashes have mostly managed to stay out of the news. The death toll from the fighting has resulted in dozens of deaths and is only destabilizing the country even more. As it stands, large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine are in the hands of rebels and are looking like they will remain that way for some time.

In fact, there is a referendum scheduled for this Sunday which will more than likely give another large part of eastern Ukraine to Russia. Despite Vladimir Putin making remarks during the midweek that claimed he was ready and willing to pursue peaceful measures in an effort to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, the violence has continued to rage on. Mr. Putin also called upon the rebels to postpone this weekend’s referendum, but that much has yet to be seen. As a result of investors anxiousness with regard to what will happen in Ukraine over the weekend, safe-haven demand for gold and silver was given a noticeable boost earlier today. The boost has not been very large, but it is better than the losses that have been piling up over the last few days. As it stands currently, gold is still sitting below the $1,300 threshold while silver is still below $20/ounce.

Janet Yellen spoke on the same day as Vladimir Putin and in her remarks maintained her positive outlook on the US economy. What’s more, she shocked the investing world by saying that interest rates would remain low for as long as they need to be. Up until this week there were still a large number of investors who believed that interest rates in the US would be risen as early as next spring, but now it seems as though that much will likely not be the case.