At many points this week gold and silver looked as though they were going to post solid gains by the time Friday rolled around, but the last day of the week had other things in mind for metals. A better than expected employment report did well to destroy both gold and silver on the final day of the week. Before Friday, and especially on Thursday, many were thinking that this would finally be the week we see gold finish the week above the $1,400 mark. Other than a few reports later on, this week was fairly quiet as far as huge headlines are concerned.

US Economic Reports

If you remember only a short while ago, you likely remember that US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made the announcement that monetary policy in the US might be changing sometime soon. The policy in question is Quantitative Easing and the popular thought is that it will be ended or wound down by the end of this summer. Because of that sentiment, investors and market watchers have been paying closer attention than normal to any and all economic news out of the United States.

This week there was an employment report which some have been saying is the biggest report of the summer and the year. It was expected that non-farm jobs would increase by about 170,000 while the actual unemployment rate was expected to stay at about 7.5%. The actual report, which was immediately negative for precious metals, indicated that 175,000 non-farm jobs were added in May, a number that exceeded expectations.

Before Friday gold and silver were looking fine, though afterwards it is very evident that both metals took big steps backwards.

Other World Reports

While the United States caught the majority of investor’s attention this week, there was still news to report out of Europe and Asia.

In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei Index, which has been collapsing lately, has fallen even further this week. Over the course of the past two weeks, the Japanese Nikkei Index has lost almost 20% of its value. During the midweek we saw some minimal gains made back which had investors thinking perhaps the tide was shifting, but almost as quickly as gains were made, losses were posted. Following in the footprints of Japan, Chinese stocks did not fare too well this week either.

We are all aware that European nations are having a tough go of things as far as economies are concerned, and this week saw nothing improve. Even though the European Central Bank had a meeting this week, the bank’s leaders did not even so much as address the many problems facing the countries in Europe.

What did come of the meeting, however, was the fact that monetary policy will remain the same as will interest rates.

Moving Ahead

As we move forward into next week the expected news is fairly light. While there are no major headlines to talk about, investors will keep their eyes fixated on the US economy and everything that comes along with it. The US Dollar will be the main thing to watch next week as it will tell us a lot about the direction precious metals will be heading in.

Weekly Move

Gold started the week at $1,391 and when all was said and done finished at $1,383. This was a loss of $8. Silver started the week at $22.33 and when all was said and done it was at $21.69. This was a loss of 64 cents.