Gold and silver both exceeded expectations as they finished in the green for the first time in a few weeks. Despite a plethora of world economic news that seemed more likely to work against gold and silver than anything else, precious metals moved forward anyway. We witnessed both a Federal Reserve address to Congress as well as the latest Chinese Manufacturing report, both of which were watched closely by precious metals investors. Though the gains gold and silver made were fairly small, it still pleased investors to see positive numbers for once.

US Monetary Policy Announcement

The most highly anticipated news story of the week came in the form of Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, and his speech to Congress about the current state of the US economy as well as the outlook for the future of monetary policy. Throughout the last few weeks, word on the street was that Bernanke was expected to announce that the Fed would be winding down its monthly bond-buying program (known as Quantitative Easing) in the near future.

During the initial stages of his address, Bernanke seemed like he was in favor of not altering the current policy though as he continued his speech and answered questions he alluded to the fact that bond-buying could be wound down as soon as a few weeks from now. This news was negative for the spot value of gold and silver, but because no actual timelines were announced, declines in the values of gold and silver were minimal. In fact, stock markets in both the US and Japan took a dive at the end of the day the day Bernanke’s speech was made which allowed gold and silver to post positive gains on Thursday. Since Bernanke’s address to Congress was a bit misleading, we will likely find out more about QE the next time the Federal Open Market Committee convenes for a meeting.

Chinese Manufacturing and More World News

Perhaps the second biggest story of the week came in the form of Chinese manufacturing data. The reason this news was so important to investors lies in the fact that China has not been doing very well lately, at least as far as economics goes. The world’s second largest economy has seen an outpouring of negative reports lately and investors of all types were waiting to see what the latest dish of manufacturing data had in store for the large Asian country.

Manufacturing numbers in China disappointingly lived up to expectations as they showed that the manufacturing sector in the country contracted during April. This news, among the slew of other negative economic stories coming out of China are likely going to prompt the country’s central bank to take action in order to avoid rising inflation rates. Any time the Chinese economy does bad it is usually good news for metals, and this time was no different.

Finally, the German economy grew by a little over one tenth of a percentage point during the first quarter of 2013, when compared to the final quarter of 2012. This, coupled with a few other positive economic reports mark the first decent news out of Europe for a while. Do not get it twisted, however, positive news out of Germany does not mean that the rest of Europe is doing well.

Moving Ahead

As we move into the final week of May, investors will be watching many of the same things they have been paying attention to for the last few weeks. For one, all eyes will be on both the US and Japanese stock markets as a late week dive is expected to be righted by as early as Tuesday.

Keep in mind that the start of next week will likely be a slow one as the United States is taking Monday off in order to celebrate the Memorial Day holiday.

Weekly Move

Gold started the week a $1,365, and when all was said and done it was sitting comfortably at $1,385. This was a gain of $20. Silver, on the other hand, started the week at $22.42, and when all was said and done leveled out at $22.41. This was a loss of about one penny.

Gold and silver continue their downward slide this week, posting losses that were far greater than anyone had expected. Two of the main reasons behind this slide were a rising US dollar and incredibly large surges in stock markets across the world. Investors fear that an announcement about the end of Quantitative Easing could further drive the price of gold right into the ground. We started this week with hoped of gold approaching the$1,500 threshold and now we wrap the week up praying that the yellow metal does not fall below $1,300.

World Stock Markets

The Japanese Stock market has been hitting multi-year highs all this week which has done a great job at devaluing both gold and silver. As more and more stock markets perform at the high levels we have been witnessing lately, investors are less interested in safe-haven investments like gold and silver and are much more interested in risk chasing in hopes of reeling in big profits from surging stock markets.

In addition to this, world currencies such as the Japanese Yen and the Australian Dollar are losing value relative to the dollar. Since the USD is gold and silvers’ main combatant, anytime it gains value like we have seen this week, gold and silver suffer. You may be wondering why these currencies are declining in value at such rapid rates, but the answer is simple; it is because of easy money poliies being implemented by central banks all across the world. Though we talked about the Yen and the Aussie Dollar, far more currencies than those two are currently being devalued.

A Word From the Fed

At the end of last week we saw rumors surfacing that spoke to the possibility of the US Federal Reserve ending its current Quantitative Easing program. While there is little fact backing this story up, many believe it to be true nonetheless.

Because both the US dollar and US stock markets continue to do well many experts believe that QE measures are no longer necessary. QE is used to weaken the USD, but because so many other central banks around the world are or have implemented their own QE measures, most of which are more aggressive than the US, the US Dollar is gaining value rather than losing it.

Moving Ahead

As we move into next week the main thing that will be on the minds of precious metals investors everywhere are the two stories talked about above. As of now, these two factors are putting more downward pressure on gold and silver than anything else.

It is about time gold and silver caught a break, though it doesn’t seem like this will happen.

Weekly Move

Gold started the week at $1,448 and ended at $1,360. This was a loss of about $88. Silver, on the other hand, started the week at $23.87 and finished around $22.26 . This was a loss of $1.61.

Gold and silver disappointed investors yet again this week as both metals waited until the last day of the week to post their biggest daily losses. This week featured a few more interest rate cuts as well as poor economic news out of China which has caused some to question the strength of the world’s second largest economy. If it weren’t for a solid run by the US dollar gold and silver might have posted positive gains this week, but such was not the case.

China Fading

China is seemingly beginning to fall off as the second biggest economic power as the nation is continuing to produce poor economic report after poor economic report. This week was no different as during the midweek it was announced that the Producer Price Index for this past April was far lower than originally anticipated. Many people are looking to this report as direct evidence as a China who is begin to stagnate economically.

The second poor report out of China was that inflation rose by two tenths of a percentage point more than expected this past April. Increased inflation has caused many to speculate that the nation’s central bank may tighten their current monetary policy. The purpose of tightening monetary policy would be to ward off any future, unprecedented rises in inflation.

Finally, even though there are a number of poor economic reports circling around China, physical demand for gold remains at all-time highs. To put things in perspective, the thirty tons of gold that was sold in Hong Kong at the end of last April was over 50% more than was recorded at the same time last year. So long as the price of gold remains subdued physical demand is going to remain so high that retailers will continue to liquidate their stock as soon as it arrives.

Fighting the Dollar

Perhaps the major reason why gold is unable to make any sort of lasting comeback from its losses the other week is due to the fact that the US dollar is doing extremely well. Whenever the dollar is doing well gold always seems to act in opposite fashion and that much has rung true yet again this week.

It is unlikely that the dollar will weaken significantly in the coming weeks either as currencies all over the world are currently being weakened at alarming rates. The dollar has no choice but to grow in value which will inevitably cause gold and silver to suffer.

Moving Ahead

Looking forward into the next week of May the main thing that precious metals watchers will keep their eyes on is the value of the US dollar. Right now the USD is having the biggest influence on the price of both gold and silver.

Weekly Move

Gold started the week at $1,471 and finished up at $1,447. This was a loss of $24. Silver, on the other hand, started the week at $24.20 and by the time markets closed on Friday it was at $23.87. This was a loss of 33 cents.

Precious metals did not do much moving this week despite one or two fairly large news stories from across the world. While some may see little movement as a bad week for metals, the reality is that the past few weeks have been so tumultuous for gold and silver that little movement is a relief for many. A European Central Bank meeting yielded big news that, for once, made Europeans happy.

Little Movement

Monday and Tuesday’s spot values had investors thinking that this week was going to repeat last week as far as gains go, but Wednesday seemed to dampen that thought a bit. By the time Thursday rolled around gold was trading at roughly the same price it was on Monday while silver had dropped below its weekly starting point a bit.

With much of Asia observing a holiday during the midweek trading from that part of the world was largely subdued. Whenever Asia is taken out of the market equation it usually spells bad news for precious metals spot prices just as it did this time. Asia is a part of the world that sees more demand for gold and silver than almost any other and because of the decline in value of gold and silver, demand has been up. Next week it is expected that the Asian demand will be back in full force and precious metals will likely benefit from that fact as far as spot values are concerned.

ECB Meeting

The European Central Bank had a meeting this week to discuss the financial future of the region and the conclusion of it was a solution that many were happy about. It was announced that interest rates will be cut by a quarter of one percentage point to sit at .5%. This was a fairly drastic, yet needed, decision in the wake of what has been an absolutely terrible last year of economic and financial data.

More recently, the manufacturing data and retail sales in Europe have been suppressed and with so many countries running into financial difficulties something had to be done. It is thought that the lowered interest rates will help boost European economies, but it is difficult to say for certain.

Moving Ahead

As we move into the first full week of May, one of the major headlines to follow is definitely the ongoing situation in Europe. While this upcoming week is a small sample size for judging the effectiveness of the reduced interest rates, it will be intriguing to see how investors react. It is anticipated that economic numbers will bounce back soon, but that is by no means a guarantee.

Weekly Move

Gold started the week at $1,466 and ended at $1,469. This was a gain of about 3 dollars. Silver started the week at $24.11 and by the time trading was done on Friday the spot value was at about $24.10. This was a loss of one single cent.

As the last full week of April comes to a close, we have some positive news to report about gold and silver. The low spot values of the metal has finally translated into massive demand and thus, an increase in their values. While this week was not enough to make up for the massive losses we witnessed only a few weeks ago, it is definitely a good start. Many experts believe that the global economic climate at this time is such that a continued ascension of the price of metals is very possible.

Heightened Demand

Many predicted that the fall in the value of precious metals only a few weeks ago would turn into heavy demand and an increase the spot value of gold and silver once more. At first this did not go as planned, but this week we finally saw rising global demand which translated into better spot values. These spot values were not enough to to turn around the past few weeks losses, but they sure didn’t hurt.

The busiest part of the world as far as gold consumption was concerned was Asia. Not only did a holiday in Asia increase purchases, but demand was so high that brick and mortar stores throughout Asia were running out of stock.

Economies Fluctuating

The whole world is in tough economic times, that is an undeniable fact as of late. It seems as though there is no safe place to invest, but some believe that gold and silver are starting to change that. As investors are unsure where to go with their investments at an increasing rate, something has to give. While this is gold’s first positive week in a while, and a short sample size to go off of, many think that the rise in value will continue.

Central banks all over the world have posted increased purchases of gold, which gives investors more confidence in the metal. Increased confidence naturally translates into more purchases and thus a rising spot value.

Moving Ahead

As we end April and begin May the main focus of every investor is the spot value of both gold and silver. It is thought that values will continue to rise, but no one can know for sure. Keeping your attention fixated on the US economy is also a good idea as its progress has been slowed as of late. The world economy has been so unpredictable lately, every week has been a roller coaster of sorts  and all of us wish things would just settle down a bit.

Weekly Move

At the beginning of this week gold was sitting at $1,409 and at the end of the week was situated at $1,463. This was a gain of $54. Silver started the week at $23.38 and finished at $24.10, gains of about 72 cents.

It seems as though gold and silver can’t catch a break this week either. Despite seemingly hospitable economic environments around the world, specifically in the US, precious metals have seen no major breakthroughs. As a matter of fact, gold and silver had a worse run of things this year than they did last year. Fears are everywhere in the precious metals markets and until those fears are quelled, gold will be unable to make any sort of major positive moves.

More Significant Losses

When we ended last week, we thought that gold and silver had reached the lowest point they possibly could. The reality is that gold started this week in even worse shape than it handed ended the week before. Because of Cyprus selling off most of its gold holdings, investors everywhere feared that other central banks would do the same. Because of this fear investors were selling off their gold in order to prevent themselves from falling in a hole they could not get out of.

There is no viable evidence that says central banks will be taking these measures, but as with any other market event, people will always speculate. While other nations are in need of cash much like Cyprus was, they have other means of raising money whereas the small island nation was left with limited options.

US Fading

There are a number of different reasons why gold and silver should be doing well, and one of them is the declining US economy. After a few weeks of positive form many thought that the stock markets in the United States were invincible. This was foolish because the economy in the United States has cooled off as quickly as it heated up.

Now, unemployment numbers are rising, retail sales are falling, and manufacturing data is flat-out pathetic. Despite this, gold and silver have not been too reactive to US economic news due to puling factors from elsewhere in the world.

Moving Ahead

As we move into next week we will obviously be watching the ever-changing spot price of silver and gold. These past few weeks have taught us that even when we think the worst is over, the worst may still be yet to come.

While North Korea took a back seat to many other news stories this week, it is still something we must keep our attention focused on. Don’t be too surprised if the tiny Asian country begins making the headlines yet again next week.

Weekly Move

Gold started the week at $1,488 and finished up at $1,404; posting a loss of $84. Silver opened the week at $25.98 and closed at $23.28..posting a loss of $2.70.

Thanks to Cyprus and a few other factors, gold and silver have both experienced yet another week of heavy losses. Most investors thought that last week’s decline was something awful, but this week was flat-out much worse. Despite US economic data that should be beneficial for the yellow metal, gold and silver have hit the ground running yet again. Now many are wondering when this landslide is going to stop.

Cyprus…Again

Unless you have an incredibly short memory, you likely remember the Cyprus financial situation that happened only  few weeks ago. The small, European nation was in dire need of a bailout and thanks to the EU, IMF, and well-off bank depositors they got it. Everyone was happy and we moved on with our lives, but it seems as though Cyprus is not done just yet.

It turns out that the bailout the nation received was not nearly large enough, and in order to increase their funds without begging the EU again was to sell off their gold holdings. To most this makes a lot of sense, but no one had anticipated that they would sell well over three fourths of their gold. This absolutely massive sell-off was enough to kill the value of gold on the market.

Bargain Hunting Season

Due to the huge hit gold and silver suffered on the last day of the week, it is undoubtedly bargain season for prospective investors everywhere. It has been quite some time since gold was nearing the $1,400s and unless something stops this fall, we will see some of the lowest values in years.

This is making investors very angry but is making the average person who was looking for a reason to invest the impetus they need. As we endure this weekend, it will be incredibly interesting to see how gold reacts at the start of next week. Last week, decent gains on Friday had many thinking that this week was going to be extremely positive for precious metals, but this turned out to be a false assumption. While gold did remain relatively still during the early parts of this week, this Cyprus news was enough for a collapse like we saw at the end of the day on Friday of this week.

Moving Ahead

As we move into the next week, it is important that we keep our attention fixated on a number of different developing stories around the world. For one, we will need to pay attention to North Korea as they continue to make threats to a variety of different countries around the world.

Additionally, it will be interesting to see whether gold or silver can pick up from these losses and move forward. Bargain hunters are going to get their fill this weekend and Monday and the early parts of next week may see gold and silver benefit from that.

Weekly Move

Gold started the week at $1,582 and on Friday finished at $1,479. This was a loss of $103. Silver started at $27.32 and ended at $26.13. A loss of $1.26.

As far as bad weeks go, gold and silver knows all about them thanks to the last 5 days. Heavy losses over Tuesday and Wednesday could not even be undone after gold picked up over 30 dollars on Friday. Most investors are clueless too because there is not any real, good reason why gold should have taken such a heavy hit. Silver also had a week proportionally similar to gold.

USD, Stock Markets Staying Strong

The improbable good form of the US economy has continued even into the first week of April. Both stock markets and currency in the United States performed well this week which made it even harder for gold and silver to get up after their early week drop-off. There are a lot of people who continue to predict that the US economy is going to fall off and slow down, but that has yet to be seen.

So long as the US economy does well it is hard to imagine that gold and silver will be able to make any substantial gains.

North Korea

We all know that the government of North Korea can be a little off their rocker from time to time, and this whole week did nothing more than prove that sentiment true. The government of the rogue nation has spent a good part of this past week making threats towards the United States and South Korea. While it is not uncommon for North Korea to talk a big game like this, this time seems a bit more serious.

An outbreak of war is an unwanted thing, but if it does happen precious metals investors need to be aware. For this reason we will continue to keep an eye on this part of Asia.

Moving Ahead

As we push forward through the month of April a few things we are going to be watching are the continually increasing tensions in North Korea as well as the ongoing economic downturn Europe is facing.

Leaders throughout EU countries need to step up and start making some big decisions before they too face crises like Cyprus just went through. If a nation like Germany were to be failing on a Cypriot level, who is going to bail them out? These are all things that leaders over there really need to be taking into consideration.

Weekly Move

Despite gold picking up over 30 dollars and silver picking up a half dollar on Friday, the week was pretty disappointing for precious metals. Gold started the week at $1,599, and ended the day Friday at about $1,579. Silver started off the week at $28.38 and when things wrapped up it was down over a dollar, finishing at $27.32.

If you think you lived this week’s top gold news stories already it is because you already kind of have. The main focus of the world was Cyprus and how their bailout situation will be brought to an end. The added pressure due to the eyes of the world being fixated on the tiny island nation must have done some good because the situation is done and dealt with and banks are once again open.

Tiny Island, Lots of Problems

It seems as though the amount of problems building up around Cyprus have been amounting to a quantity that is even larger than the island itself. Luckily for everyone, but especially those living in Cyprus, the bank holiday was lifted on Thursday and regular withdrawals of money were once again able to be made.

The new bailout plan will see bank accounts in Cyprus that contain more than 100,000 euros to be taxed in order to fund the aforementioned bailout. This angered a lot of people, but not nearly the quantity of people that were up in arms when the original bailout plan was announced. The original plan would have seen every bank account being taxed to some extent, a situation that the poorer individuals in the country would have fought. This may not be the best solution the government of Cyprus could have come up with, but it at least makes sense, handles the situation, and only takes money from those who are likely able to spare the small amount they will each be getting taxed.

Trouble in Asia

The increased tensions between North Korea, South Korea, and the US have done little to move gold’s value yet, but that could change soon. The South and the US have been conducting joint military operations over the past few weeks and this has really struck the nerve of the North.

The reason we are focusing our attention on this news instead of the economic situation in Europe or America’s continued economic resurgence is because a war involving the South and the US could mean for big news for precious metals holders. As bad as this is to say, anytime there is a war or conflict involving 1st world nations such as the US or South Korea, the prospects of precious metals usually looks up. There is no real evidence that fighting is going to break out, but it is always important to keep your eye on the news, even if, on the surface, they look to be completely irrelevant in terms of precious metals.

Moving Ahead

As we move forward you are going to wish you had an extra set of eyes because your attention is going to be fixated on a number of different situations going on in the world. Like we just mentioned, the goings on on the Korean peninsula is something to keep an eye for the sole fact that fighting can break out there at any moment.

Elsewhere we need to stay up to date with debt problems in Europe as there are quite a few of those. Finally, we look to see if the US economy is able to continue to sustain its impeccable form that it has been showing off lately.

Weekly Move

Gold started off the week in a strong position at $1,610 but slowly fell off as it dropped about 13 dollars to finish the week at $1,597. Silver, on the other hand, started at $28.76 and dropped almost 40 cents to finish at $28.37.

Two issues were on the front of everyone’s mind this week, one of which was in the United States and the other focused around the minuscule island nation of Cyprus. The US was dealing with the idea of weathering yet another Federal Reserve meeting while Cyprus is entrenched in one of the worst debt situations in Europe. As a whole neither story was strong enough to really sway precious metals to heavily in one direction or another.

Uneventful Fed Meeting

Whenever the Fed meets investors speculate, and this time was no different. Even though there was no reason for investors to think that monetary policy in the US was going to change many thought that it would. When the meeting happened the conclusion was that there is no need to change the current policy of Quantitative Easing quite yet.

While it may not last forever, QE is definitely going to be sticking around for the near future. This news was mildly positive for both gold and silver.

Cyprus Struggling to Keep Head Above Water

One of the many nations in Europe that are struggling to avoid falling into deep financial trouble is the small country of Cyprus. They are perhaps one of the most needy countries in all of Europe which prompted the IMF and the EU to draft up plans for a possible bailout. The first plan that was set forward included the taxing of all private bank accounts in Cyprus.

This news cause many Cypriots and those holding funds in Cypriot banks to withdraw all their money at once. Withdrawing all their money seemed like a good idea however after a while ATMs began to run out of cash. After most ATMs were left barren, the government of Cyprus declared a bank holiday which lasted the duration of the week.

Moving Ahead

When we look forward to next week, it is hard to imagine that there will be many people missing out on the conclusion of the crisis in Cyprus, Before this week Cyprus was just another European nation suffering from financial problems, but now that everyone has heard about this story it is unlikely that people will simply let it go.

Weekly Move

From the time the markets opened on Monday to the time they closed on Friday gold had moved from $1,598 to $1,609; a weekly gain of $11. Silver opened at $28.86 and stayed about the same by the time the week was over.