Gold and Silver Market Update (3/7/2015) – Golden Eagle
In another sign of continuing volatility, last week saw every single major precious metal take a dive – some of them dramatic. Unusually this all happened against a background of falling equities markets and a static oil price; the conditions should have been right for some good performances from metals, especially gold and silver which looked to be doing well the week before. Unfortunately that’s not how it turned out, and anyone with large positions in bullion took a hit last week.
Beginning with gold, it started sliding as soon as the markets opened on Monday and accelerated downwards as the week went on. The support most observers had expected to hold just above $1,200 evaporated on Wednesday and a final crash on Friday saw it close at $1,168.70. That’s a fall of $45 over the previous week, not a good performance by any standard. The worry now is that gold could easily fall below $1,100 over the next two weeks, although there’s no real reason for that to happen. On the bright side cheaper gold tends to cause a surge of demand on the Indian jewelry market, which could have the effect of stabilizing the price before it drops much further. For the moment hang on, and if it drops below $1,100 take the chance to buy in cheaply.
Silver also had a rough week that closely paralleled gold’s. Again the price started dropping right away and again it picked up speed as the week went on. Friday afternoon saw it lose 35 cents in just a few hours, although it did flatten out and pick up a few cents towards the end of the day. It finally closed at $15.925, 71 cents down on the week before.
While platinum also lost value over the week it wasn’t quite as dramatic. Again the decline started off slowly and steepened through Wednesday and Thursday. The closing price was $1,157, slightly up from a brief dip through $1,155 but still $34.50 down on the previous week. Hopefully there’s some support above $1,150; if so, given continuing strong demand, we could see a regain this week.
Palladium actually jumped sharply as soon as the markets opened, peaking more than $13 up on Monday at $830.50. Then it started to fall again, tracking the other metals closely. By Friday afternoon it was back down to $819, for very little overall movement at all. Still, once more it seems to be the most robust of the metals and probably deserves a closer look right now.
And last of all there’s rhodium. The spot price barely moved through Thursday, sitting almost static around the $1,110 level, but suddenly dropped on Friday as part of the general slump. By the time the markets closed it was down to $1,090.
So overall not a good week for precious metals. The markets have been unstable for a while but the size of last week’s losses still came as a surprise to many analysts. Industrial demand is still generally good though and we can expect it to strengthen more as the economy continues to grow. Hopefully that will turn the market round before too long.
About the Author: Clint Stelfox
Clint is the director of marketing at Golden Eagle Coins. Son of Richard Stelfox, co-founder of the company, Clint has been living and breathing coins his entire life. After trading for a Philadelphia Stock Exchange firm for several years Clint returned to give Golden Eagle the online presence it has today. 
