Gold & Silver Market 11-17-2015
Once again there were disappointing results right across the precious metals sector last week, although the scale of losses varied. Overall it was a worrying period, because metals managed to lose ground even though the equities markets fell heavily. Normally we’d have expected to see metals make a lot of ground in these market conditions, but it just didn’t happen. With oil still heading down too the only healthy sector was dollar trading, with the Euro still stuck below $1.07 for anyone who wants to take a bet on the single currency recovering – which it might not to any time soon, with the Eurozone’s highly stressed web of financial agreements falling apart by the week.
Looking at gold first, its performance was very disappointing for a week in which the Dow Jones shed three percent of its value. A steady slow descent saw it close at $1,083.90, $5.95 below where it ended the previous period. Despite this downward move it was actually the top performing metal. While it didn’t impress last week gold does look like one of the better options in a generally weak commodities field right now, and we wouldn’t be surprised if further share losses saw it rise this week.
Silver was much more worrying, with a steeper descent taking it down 52 cents to close at $14.26. This is a far more serious loss than gold saw and means the gold-silver ratio, which looked to have settled back down at last, is opening again. We’re not recommending silver right now because potential profits are so low, and you’re most likely best hanging on to it until it recovers again – which it will, long term. That long term might just have moved a bit further away though, because if confidence fades again it could take a while to return.
Platinum had an extremely bad week, losing $81.50 to finish up at $859.50. That’s a fall of close to ten percent, a serious blow to anyone who’s holding large quantities. However even in the context of last week’s poor performance this looks like an extreme move with no real driver behind it, and it’s very likely it just picked up some momentum and ran with it. Look for an upward movement early this week; that would indicate that the weekend has given traders a chance to think, and realize that platinum went down too far and too fast.
We saw pretty much the same picture with palladium, which again dropped very sharply. The final trades went through at $549.50, a massive $69.50 down on the Friday before. That works out at close to 14 percent, a disastrous performance in any context. Again there’s no obvious reason for it beyond a general slump in commodities and at least a partial recovery is likely this week.
That just leaves rhodium, which dripped $10 in weekend trading then sat at $740 for the rest of the period. We don’t see any prospect of action here in the near future.
So a bad week overall, but in the context of an overall drop in commodities. We don’t see metals as having any real weakness you could put your finger on and it’s likely that, with the global economy in turmoil right now, they should rise again 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. 
Just wondering if Golden Eagle Coins was formally Eagle National Mint