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Week of September 5th Gold Market Update

This week proved to be extremely adversarial to precious metals and saw spot values decline across the board. Now that the dog days of summer are behind us, the amount of activity happening on a day to day basis throughout the global marketplace has picked up considerably. Though investors in the US did not begin trading until Tuesday, this week was a good bit busier than any of the last two. With a boatload of economic data released, the market has a lot of information to chew on and digest.

In addition to the slew of economic activity happening this week, the attention of investors also shifted towards the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Early on Tuesday it was reported that a ceasefire agreement had been reached between Ukraine, Russia, and pro-Russian rebels, but that news story proved to be nothing more than unfounded rumors. Now, as the fighting continues, it will be interesting to see what the next few weeks has in store for the war-ravaged parts of Eastern Ukraine.

ECB Announces Further Rate Cuts

One of the biggest points of interest this week came yesterday morning in the form of the European Central Bank’s most recent policy meeting. With talk of further monetary stimulus on the table, investors were tuning in to see if such policy shifts were going to take place this week. By meeting’s end, it was announced that the ECB was cutting its main interest rate down to 0.05%–the lowest it has ever been. In addition to this, the EU’s governing financial body also announced that it would soon be implementing a policy similar to the United States’ now almost finished with quantitative easing program.

Yesterday’s news prompted the Euro currency to decline even further against the US Dollar. Also as a result of yesterday’s ECB announcement the USD Index hit yet another 13-month high. In recent weeks, the US Dollar has been a consistently strong performer and has been seen making almost incessant gains. Today, however, slightly downbeat economic data from the US ended up putting a halt to the greenback’s recently impressive progress.

Non-Farm Employment Data Disappoints; Unemployment Rate Declines

Apart from the ECB meeting, the market was also very interested in today’s release of the United States’ non-farm payroll addition figures for August. Unfortunately, however, the data fell short of expectations quite considerably. Despite investors and market experts anticipating that more than 210,000 new jobs were created in August, the actual figures showed that just over 140,000 came to fruition. This data immediately had a negative impact on US equities as well as the USD index.

As you could have probably guessed, this data provided some support for metals, but this support has done nothing more than keep spot values level. The silver lining in this poor employment data is that the unemployment rate in the US fell by one-tenth of a percentage point to 6.1%. Now, investors will use this weekend in order to digest and mull over the slew of data that was made public this week.

Week of August 29th Gold Market Update

Precious metals trended downward for a majority of what proved to be a very quiet week. With little economic data on the table, and a market that is turning increasingly bearish, it is growing extremely difficult for precious metals to make any strides forward. This weekend will be extended due to the Labor Day holiday and won’t see US markets open back up until Tuesday morning. With that said, I expect that next week, short though it may be, to bring about a good amount of economic data for investors to chew on and mull over.

In addition to this, the eyes of the world are once again fixating upon the violence and tensions ravaging much of Eastern Ukraine. Reports released just a few days ago saw Ukrainian military officials claiming that Russian troops had crossed over the border into Eastern Ukraine. Despite initially denying these allegations, it became clear that Russian forces had, in fact, crossed over the border and began seizing towns. This was all going on while Ukrainian leaders and Russian leaders were participating in supposed “peace talks.” With peace a seemingly good distance away, there is no saying what the next few weeks holds for the situation in Eastern Europe.

Upbeat US Data Spurs US Dollar

Despite this week being generally quiet, yesterday did bring about an all-important US GDP report from the second quarter of this year. According to the data, the US GDP grew by more than 4% during the second quarter on an annualized basis. This news prompted the US Dollar to make gains yesterday; gains that continued into today.

Over the past few weeks, it has been clear that US equities as well as the US Dollar are dominating the US trading sphere. With few factors coming in to move markets too far in any one direction and a growing belief that interest rates will be raised in the US sometime in the near future, it is not a market where buying interest in precious metals is flowing freely.

Perhaps with the onset of next week, however, all that will change. The European Central Bank policy meeting is on the slate for next week and so too is a very important US jobs report. Though there is no saying how these two events will unfold, it is safe to say that they will definitely be drawing the attention of the global marketplace.

Week of August 15th Gold Market Update

Precious metals began the day feeling a lot of pressure as a result of decreasing tensions in Ukraine, but things changed quickly as it was reported that tensions were actually only growing. Today brought about some light economic data from the US, but most of it was on the disappointing side of things and ended up pressuring the USD. As we look forward to next week, it is clear that the focus of the marketplace will continue to be the large number of ongoing geopolitical events, especially the rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

Geopolitics Cause Stocks, USD to Lose Value

Today was an interesting day because, shortly before US markets opened it was reported that Ukrainian officials might actually allow a Russian aid convoy to cross over the border. This news caused the value of precious metals to plummet as risk appetite picked up considerably.

Shortly thereafter, however, new reports surfaced with regard to a Ukrainian military official claiming that his forces had destroyed a large majority of an armed Russian convoy that had cross the border earlier today. This news had the exact opposite effect as the news released earlier in the day and allowed precious metals to par some of the losses incurred before US markets even opened. In return, stocks that were in the green early in the morning ended up posting massive losses by the time markets close. On top of it all, the US Dollar took such a hit that it ended up finishing the day and week in about the same spot it was at when this week got underway.

As we look ahead to next week, it is clear to see that the market will only have a limited number of factors to pay attention to. With geopolitics still dominating the marketplace and little to no economic data expected to be made public, next week is already looking like it will be eerily similar to this one.

Week of August 8th Gold Market Update

Precious metals are being pressured to close out the week thanks to some upbeat US economic data. This week, on the whole, has been devoid of many economic reports, but those that were made public caught the attention of investors from around the world. This week also saw geopolitics take center stage again, as a number of situations have developed quite a bit over the course of the last 4 or 5 days.

Looking ahead to next week, it is highly likely that investors will continue to focus on geopolitical happenings in both the Middle East and Europe. Unfortunately, it is going to take more than geopolitical events alone to drastically alter the spot values of gold and silver.

Geopolitics Dominate the Investing World

Since the early parts of this week, investors from around the world have been paying close attention to the situation unfolding between Russia and Ukraine. As early as Monday, reports were published claiming that Russia was once again building up a massive military presence along its border with Ukraine. As the week moved forward, it was eventually verified, by NATO, that more than 20,000 combat-ready troops were stationed just over the Russia-Ukraine border. Though Russia has announced no plans to enter the conflict in Ukraine militarily, their actions are painting a very different picture.

Also in the news from that same conflict are reports claiming that pro-Russian rebels were behind yet another airstrike which brought down a Ukrainian military aircraft.

Investors had even more news to chew on this morning as it was announced that US president Barack Obama has sanctioned airstrikes on rebel forces in Iraq. Over the last few days, Islamic rebels have been preventing citizens from leaving certain towns, effectively holding them hostage without food or water. The forthcoming airstrikes will mark some of the most direct involvement the US has seen in Iraq since troops left the country not that long ago.

Finally, rounding off the news Friday was news of yet another ceasefire agreement being broken in Gaza. According to Israeli sources, Hamas rockets began firing during the supposed ceasefire, and Israeli Defense Forces responded accordingly. This news has been a constant recipient of investor attention over the last few weeks and will likely remain so so long as a tangible ceasefire agreement doesn’t exist. While all this violence did help the prospects and spot values of precious metals, some upbeat US economic data did its part to limit overall buying interest.

Week of August 1st Gold Market Update

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.

Week of July 25th Gold Market Update

Gold and silver spot values have experienced a fairly rough week, most fueled by a slight uptick in investor risk-appetite. What is interesting, however, is that risk-appetite has slowly increased despite the market’s almost complete and total focus on geopolitical events unfolding in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. However, today, the last day of the week, is showing clear signs of investors being a bit more cautious as we head into what is most definitely an uncertain weekend.

Geopolitics Dominate Investors’ Focus

The beginning of this week saw investors from around the world exhibiting a bit more risk-appetite, despite continued focus on violence in Israel and Ukraine. That said, some positive US corporate earnings boosted US equity markets while upbeat Chinese PMI data released later in the week gave Asian equity markets a boost.

Amid all this upbeat economic data, however, there have been a number of new developments surrounding the Malaysian Airlines MH-17 flight as well as the ongoing Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.

With regard to the debris field resulting from flight MH-17, there is still a lot of work to be done, and pro-Russian rebels are not going to be patient it seems. While rebels have thus far cooperated with the recovery of wreckage and victims, they are urging those who wish to come investigate the accident to expedite that process. To many, this urging only serve to make the rebels look even more guilty. After all, it is widely believed that these same rebels were behind the downing of MH-17 as well as four other Ukrainian military aircraft in recent weeks. Tensions are so high in recent weeks because Western leaders are seeing no effort on the part of Russia to deescalate tensions between Ukrainian government and the pro-Russian rebels which have taken up post in large portions of Eastern Ukraine. In fact, just today it was reported by the Pentagon that large surface-to-air missiles were reportedly crossing over the Russian border with Ukraine. As Russian-US relations deteriorate to near Cold War levels, investors from around the world are fearing the worst as we head into this weekend.

Making investors even more on-edge is the fact that Israel, just hours ago, rejected the latest ceasefire agreement. Now, there are many reports streaming in saying that Israeli forces might even step up their attacks in the coming days. With over 800 Palestinians already dead in the last 18 days, the world is putting more pressure on Israel to halt its offensive. As a result, it only makes sense that investors are giving the turmoil their undivided attention.

Week of July 18th Gold Market Update

Precious metals spot values are reeling Friday morning due to profit-taking in the wake of yesterday’s large gains. Despite risk-aversion making its way back into the marketplace, the spot values of metals have declined considerably this morning. With little else on today’s slate, I expect the investing world to continue analyzing and speculating about the tragic Malaysia Airlines crash we witnessed not even 24 hours ago.

Geopolitical Tensions On the Rise

Despite this week being a typical summer trading session, there has been a lot of action and talking points for investors to mull over. The latest of these talking points came yesterday in the form of yet another Malaysia Airlines passenger plane falling from the sky.

Yesterday afternoon, it was reported that a Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 295 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over Eastern Ukraine, not even 6 hours into its flight. Early reports held that the plane was shot down by a missile launched from the ground, but the world hoped such wasn’t the case. Only a few hours later, however, it was confirmed that Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17 was shot down by missiles, but it was still unclear as to whose missiles they were and who exactly shot them. As the investigation into what actually happened continues, investors are slowly but surely exhibiting more of a risk-averse attitude. After all, tensions across Eastern Europe are already high, this situation is shaping up to simply make matters worse. With the increased risk-aversion making its way to the market, investors are flocking more readily to safe-haven precious metals.

Also boosting the growing notion of risk-aversion is the threat of an all-out ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli troops and tank units. After Israel and Hamas have spent the better part of the last two weeks ceaselessly launching missiles at one another, Benjamin Natanyahu and his colleagues have decided that a ground invasion may be the only real way of stopping the violence once and for all. With tank units at the ready, this weekend is shaping up to be an exciting one all over the world, and for all the wrong reasons. While metals may be suffering from some downward pressure at present, I think things will change by this afternoon and that risk-aversion and safe-haven demand will pull spot values right back up.

As a result of all the violence happening in the last few days, stock indexes from around the world have been trading downward. US equity markets in particular were hit fairly hard yesterday, and are already beginning to falter during the early morning hours of Friday. Now, investors and market analysts alike are beginning to speculate that this may finally be the end of the upward trend of US equities. I suppose only time will tell if equity markets in the US will continue to edge downward, but early indications are pointing to yes. This weekend is shaping up to be an interesting one, as the world will keep its eyes plastered to the TV in order to find out more about the number of unfolding events in Ukraine, Israel, Iraq, and elsewhere.

Week of July 11th Gold Market Update

Gold and silver spot values have paused after yesterday’s gains, but are still hanging on to their lofty positions. This week was particularly quiet, but through that quiet market atmosphere gold, silver, and other precious metals were able to add a lot of value. While palladium and platinum have cooled off towards the end of the week, they too had a solid 5-day trading session yet again.

The focus of the marketplace, as we look ahead to next week, will undoubtedly be on the violence surrounding the Middle East as well as worries with regard to the European Union’s economy.

EU Fears Still Abound, Fueling Risk Aversion

Yesterday saw most major US and European stock indexes sell off at a rapid rate due to some sub-par economic data from Europe and China. In Europe, it was reported that housing sales have fallen steadily through the first quarter of this year, while industrial production in Italy is doing far worse than many were expecting.

On top of it all, Portugal’s second-largest bank’s parent company missed a recent loan payment, sparking concerns with regard to the financial stability of the Iberian nation. Despite yesterday’s concerns being far less severe on Friday, most people are still keeping a close eye on bond yields. While those yields have fallen back to somewhat decent levels today, there is no saying what direction they will head through next week.

As a result of yesterday’s overriding concerns, the precious metals market, US treasuries, and the US Dollar were all given a healthy boost. The greenback is still performing well today and is up by more than .1%.

US Equity Rally May Finally Be Finished

For most of this year up to this point, US equity markets have been on an absolute tear, adding immense amounts of value and ceaselessly trending upwards. The past two weeks, however, have played host to a US equity market that looks a good bit different than what we have grown accustomed to.

Now, an increasing number of investors have become convinced that the bullish stock market run of the past few months might finally be finished. Of course, more than a week’s worth of downtrodden trading activity is needed to make such an assumption, but with things looking the way they do now, many people are shying away from US equities and instead turning to safe-haven assets like gold and silver.

Week of June 27th Gold Market Update

The end of what has been a quiet week across the global marketplace is seeing gold and silver spot values continue to hang on to marginal gains. The upside swing metals have taken and are continuing to ride has lasted over the past two weeks and sees metals reaching their highest points in months. Despite a quiet atmosphere across most of the week, investors still found plenty of time to speculate over what little economic data did actually surface.

The only big news of the day revolves around the outcome of the EU’s two-day summit covering how they will respond to Russia’s involvement in Ukraine. The EU has given Russia three-day ultimatum that, if not responded to, will result in further sanctions against the Kremlin. The EU is calling upon pro-Russian rebels, which are alleged to be backed by the Putin-led Russian government, to return border posts, hostages, and order to many of the southeastern parts of the country. Russia has yet to respond to the EU’s ultimatum, but most are expecting them to not budge on their stance with regard to Ukraine, specifically places like Crimea and Donetsk. Though this is still a preliminary notion, some are expecting increased tensions to reverberate across Europe as a result of potential sanctions.

Quiet Week Leaves Investors With Little To Reflect Upon

Gold and silver spot values have edged higher for a second consecutive week, but only slightly. The reason for this almost negligible price movement can be directly linked to a lack of any fresh economic data. While the 1st quarter GDP report from the United States and a gold financing scheme in China were brought to the market’s attention, neither really had a noticeable impact on gold and solver spot values.

The civil war in Iraq is still ongoing, but has remained mostly out of the news this week. The only major news stemming from that situation revolves around the presence of US military advisers. These advisers landed in Baghdad earlier this week and while they are being welcomed by the government of Iraq, it is still unclear as to what exactly their involvement in the ongoing turmoil will be. As we head into next week, a large number of investors are expecting things to be just a little bit more active than they were this week. What’s more, it is also an expectation of the market that the violence in Iraq will again make headlines sometime soon.

Week of June 13th Gold Market Update

Gold and silver spot values ended the week significantly higher than where they started it thanks to a good injection of short-covering as well as safe-haven demand. Despite the first 3-4 days of this week being inordinately quiet, the last two have shaped up to be a bit more eventful. Violence in Iraq is on the rise as a rebel militant group is working to dismantle the relative stability of the country.

This week has provided the market with little to no economic data and, as such, has seen spot values more or less trade within a well-defined range. Next week, however, will be a bit more eventful and hopefully see investors focus their attention on the expected onslaught of economic data.

Violence In Iraq Only Grows Worse

Towards the end of last week, reports began streaming in with regard to violence in Iraq. The militant group ISIS has been seen taking over villages and towns throughout wide expanses of northern Iraq. ISIS is also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and has grown exponentially in Syria over the course of the past 3-4 years. The group was on the verge of collapse, but in an ingenious move they reached out to a load of other Islamic militant groups in an effort to combine their powers and create a much larger, more effective group.

Now, ISIS is seen overpowering the Iraqi military and threatening the wider stability of a country that has just recently brought itself out of an intense period of war. Because of the violence, crude oil prices and the value of safe-haven assets such as precious metals and US Treasury notes have been on the rise. In fact, metals, over the last few days, have made advances large enough to see them hit 3 week highs both of the last two trading days.

As we look ahead, investors are more readily protecting themselves and their assets in the lead up to what is looking like a very uncertain weekend. Next week is expected to bring about a good bit more economic and geopolitical data than what we witnessed this week, so it is likely that we will see a bit more price action by precious metals.