Gold & Silver Market 4-4-2015
Last week was a slightly mixed one for the precious metal sector; silver fell and rhodium didn’t go anywhere, but all the other main commodities managed to rise to some extent. While the drop in silver prices was disappointing it was a reasonable week overall, and the situation in the wider economy has left many analysts feeling optimistic that prices could rise further this week. If so that would start to show an upward trend in gold at least, and possibly some of the other metals too.
Gold only gained $3.60 last week, to close at $1,202, but as it finished the previous period heading down and carried that on through the weekend and Monday it could have been a lot worse. Instead Tuesday saw a strong climb back up through $1,200, and although the price stopped climbing after that it did manage to hold its value until the markets closed for the Easter weekend. We’d have liked to have seen further gains later in the week but even so it could be a good stepping-off point for a stronger performance this week. The link between gold prices and the equities market does look to be rebuilding itself, so if the Dow keeps flagging we should expect to see gold rise.
Things were less positive in the silver market, with the price falling Monday and Tuesday before managing to claw it all back on Wednesday. Unfortunately Thursday saw it slip back once more, and the spot price finished the week 20 cents down at $16.75. This is slightly worrying, because it means the silver-gold price ratio is opening up again, but the drop wasn’t a large one and there’s no reason why silver can’t make it up this week. If it falls again, however, the market’s still-fragile confidence is likely to sag even more and we could see a slide back to the low levels of late 2014.
Moving on to platinum things look better again. Platinum performed sluggishly the last full week in March, picking up just $2, but last week it closed $17 up at $1,153. That certainly isn’t spectacular but it does look as if a slow but steady upward trend is emerging. In the long run that makes for a safer investment than larger but unpredictable changes.
Palladium had a particularly bad time two weeks ago, dropping significantly to $733, but last week it climbed back to $745. Again this was a much weaker increase than both industrial demand and current supply levels should point at, especially with a falling stock market, but the movement was in the right direction.
Finally rhodium, which has been pretty much static recently, carried on that unexciting pattern; there was no significant movement all week and the spot price closed where it opened at $1,095.
Overall, then, there wasn’t much of a consistent pattern in the market last week, but on balance results were promising. Gold is the keystone metal and it managed a rise, albeit a small one; platinum’s continued climb is also a positive sign. If silver can recover this week and gold’s rising trend firms up things will be looking fairly good.
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. 
