The prices of silver and gold tumbled down during last week. Their decline may have been stem from the recent news regarding the decision of big investors such as Soros to cut their holdings in gold. Will gold and silver continue to fall or change course and bounce back this week? As I have pointed out in the recent precious metals weekly outlook, several reports and publications may affect precious metals prices. These items include: the minutes of FOMC meeting, Philly Fed manufacturing index, Euro Zone manufacturing PMI, U.S CPI and PPI, and U.S housing starts. On today’s agenda: ECB President Testifies, the minutes of Bank of Japan’s monetary Policy meeting and Minutes of Reserve Bank of Australia monetary policy meeting.
Here is a short outlook for precious metals for Monday, February 18th:
Precious Metals – February Update
On Friday, the price of gold tumbled down by 1.55% to $1,609.5; Silver fell by 1.66% to $29.85. During the previous week, gold decreased by 3.4%; silver, by 5.06%.
On Today’s Agenda
ECB President Testifies: Mario Draghi will testify in the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Committee. If ECB President will bring some new perceptive regarding the developments of the EU economy, the testimony could affect the path of the Euro;
Bank of Japan – Minutes of Monetary Policy: Bank of Japan will publish the minutes of last week’s monetary policy meeting. In the recent meeting, BOJ left its asset purchase program unchanged. The minutes could offer some insight behind the previous decision and could affect the Yen, other currencies and bullion rates;
For the rest of the report you can see it at Seeking Alpha
Current Gold and Silver Rates as of February 18th
Gold (short term delivery) is traded at $1,613.6 per t oz. a $4 or 0.25% increase as of 08:09*.
Silver (short term delivery) is at $29.98 per t oz – a $0.13 or 0.42% increase as of 08:09*.
(* GMT)
Here is a reminder of the top events and publications that are scheduled for today and tomorrow (all times GMT):
Today
14:30 – ECB President Testifies
23:50 – Bank of Japan –Monetary Policy Minutes
00:30 – Minutes of Australia’s Bank Monetary Policy Meeting
Tomorrow
10:00 –German ZEW economic sentiment
23:50 – Japanese Trade balance
For further reading: