Gold and Silver Market Update (1/10/2015) – Golden Eagle
Precious metals turned in a disappointing performance in the period over New Year, but last week turned things around enough to leave most analysts feeling a lot better about the situation. By Friday there were solid rises across the sector with the exception of rhodium.
Starting with gold, last week saw the spot price rise strongly as soon as markets opened then fall back slightly on Thursday. Friday marked a return to form and gold ended the week at $1,223.40, $33.60 on the previous period. It’s still seriously undervalued considering the global economic situation but once again it’s heading in the right direction. Support seems to be quite firm not far below $1,200 and that should creep upwards in the next few weeks.
Silver also had a good week. The track of the spot price matched gold quite closely, with a dip on Thursday and a Friday recovery. Overall it picked up close to 5 percent over the New Year period to close at $16.51, a gain of 72 cents. That’s encouraging but many analysts think there’s more to come. The ratio between silver and gold is still outside its normal range and nothing in the market accounts for that; it’s likely down to a loss of confidence in silver and as confidence returns the ratio should be pulled tighter – bringing silver up.
Platinum also had a good week, finishing at $1,227. That’s $18 up over the period, taking back all it lost the week before and a bit extra on top. It isn’t spectacular but it continues a developing upwards trend that looks to have set in the third week in December. If this trend continues we should see less volatility as it settles down into a steady regain of last year’s losses.
Of all the platinum group metals palladium is the one that slipped back most in the previous period but it made up for it last week. After an initial climb it slipped badly on Wednesday to $791, below where it closed on January 2, then recovered on Friday to $802. It’s only $9 up on the New Year period but hopefully this marks the finish of the downward trend that kicked in towards the end of December. The palladium price has been almost static since October when longer-term stats are examined but industrial demand is good and it should be climbing.
Last of all there’s rhodium. It fell over New Year and last week it fell again, losing another $10 to finish at $1,120. Rhodium has been struggling to climb away from its $900 low a year ago and it looks like it still doesn’t have the energy to break out. Long term it still has a lot of potential but now is a time to build up cheap sticks, rather than expecting to profit.
Overall it was a much better week than the one before and holds out some hope for a decent recovery to come. Leaving rhodium out of it all the other metals made up what they lost the week before and added some extra value on top, so the potential for short-term gains is clear and growing upward momentum could signal greater things in the first quarter.
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. 
