Gold & Silver Market 8-16-2015
After an unimpressive few weeks in the precious metal market it was good to see a much healthier performance last week. Every one of the main metals managed to gain value, probably thanks to a bad week on the stock exchanges. We’re not ready to predict a sustained recovery just yet but with the way the global economy is looking there’s definitely potential for one. It’s all going to hang on where equities go over the next few weeks.
Starting with gold, the spot price was already looking quite healthy when the markets opened thanks to solid gains over the weekend. It then picked up even more steam, peaking on Wednesday at $1,127. Thursday saw it slip as the Dow stabilized, but when trading finished on Friday it was still almost $20 up at $1,113.70. We still think it should be well above this level, but any movement in the right direction is welcome.
Silver followed pretty much the same course through the week but, in percentage terms, did even better; it gained 43.5 cents over the previous Friday, closing at $15.245 – an increase of almost 3 percent, compared to around 2 percent for gold. It’s very encouraging to see the gold/silver ratio tightening again, after the way it’s been diverging recently.
Platinum also had a fairly good week; after rising all weekend and through the first half of the week it spiked sharply on Wednesday, climbing briefly to over $1,000 an ounce. We’d have been happy to see it stay up there but along with most other metals it fell back slightly as the Dow leveled out. Even so it managed to end the week at $990, $29 higher than the week before. There’s now a realistic prospect of it getting back above the $1,000 mark and staying there; we think the $950 low of mid-July was an aberration that hopefully won’t be repeated.
At first it looked as if palladium was going to buck the trend; after gaining a few dollars over the weekend it dipped sharply when trading started on Monday. That turned out to be a momentary blip though, and by Tuesday it was climbing strongly again. Like most of the metals it dropped Thursday, before heading upwards once more on Friday. The final price for the week was $617, a gain of $18.
And finally rhodium. Our predictions for the platinum group last week were fairly pessimistic but sometimes it’s nice to be wrong. After a sluggish start rhodium suddenly jumped on Wednesday, gaining $15 to close at $890.
So a pretty good week overall, especially compared to recent performances. It’s almost certain that metal prices were driven up by the falling Dow Jones, which in turn was a reaction to the Chinese central bank’s surprise announcement of a 2 percent devaluation of the Yuan. That’s going to make life harder for US exporters, already struggling to compete thanks to the strong dollar. With the Fed’s planned interest rate hike now looking set to be delayed again there’s a window of opportunity for metals investors.
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. 
