Precious metals may have struggled through most of the month of July, but they have gotten the month of August started on a positive note. This week has been one of the busiest we have seen all summer as a large quantity of US economic data was made public. In addition to all the economic data this week, there are a number of ongoing geopolitical scenarios which continue to catch at least some attention from the wider investing world.

Among the geopolitical scenarios playing out, none is more serious than the continued Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip. With water, sewage, and electrical capabilities a thing of the past for most Gazan residents, the Gaza Strip is slowly but surely becoming a humanitarian crisis. In Ukraine, fighting between Ukrainian military forces and pro-Russian rebels has intensified greatly over the past few days. With Ukrainian forces looking to retake control of the city of Donetsk, we are bound to witness even more fighting over the weekend. Unfortunately for precious metals, however, the continued fighting in Gaza and Ukraine is not being as closely monitored by investors as it was a week or two ago. As such, safe-haven demand stemming from all this violence is simply not coming to fruition. With that said, however, things can change dramatically in the blink of an eye, so we will continue to keep tabs on worldwide geopolitical points of tension.

Busy Week of US Economic Data Ends Disappointingly

Beginning on Tuesday, the investing world began almost exclusively focusing on the plethora of economic data which was scheduled to be made public throughout the duration of the week. On Wednesday, investors were greeted with the conclusion of the most recent FOMC meeting. Unfortunately, information with regard to the potential raising of US interest rates, of which investors have been craving, was not made public in the wake of the meeting. Instead, the Fed focused more readily on the fact that they are planning on being finished with Quantitative Easing by sometime this Fall. As a result, QE was reduced by another $10 billion beginning on July 30th.

Also released on Wednesday was the most recent US GDP report from this year’s second quarter. According to the data, the US economy grew by more than 4% on an annualized basis during this year’s second quarter. These figures bested even the loftiest of expectations help by market analysts. By midweek, the US Dollar was on a roll and was seen continuously gaining against rival currencies. Today, however, the greenback was dealt a fairly significant blow as a result of a weaker than anticipated US employment report for July. According to the figures, just under 210,000 new jobs were added to the US economy. The 209,000 new jobs fell far short of the 230,000 job increase expectation. As you could have probably guessed, today’s poor jobs figures helped give precious metals a bit of a boost.

As we head into the weekend, it will be interesting to see what direction precious metals head in. With so much violence around the world it is easy to see why gold and silver may increase in value over the weekend, but if the past week or so has been any indication, it is clear that violence in Gaza and Ukraine alone will not be enough to help precious metals move too far forward.