The precious metals market continues to heat up with gold and silver prices reaching new highs: gold price is nearing the $1,900 mark, silver price passing the $43 mark; crude oil prices have changed direction with Brent oil falling and WTI oil price rising; natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) declined again.
Here is a summary of the price movements of precious metals and energy commodities for August 22nd:
Precious Metals prices:
Gold price increased yesterday by 2.14% to $1,891; Silver price also inclined by 2.11% to $43.37. Silver reached the highest price level since May 2nd.
During August, gold prices increased by 16%, and silver price by 8.1%.
The EURO to US Dollar exchange rate continues to change directions as it declined yesterday by 0.27% – the USD appreciated against the EURO. During August the EURO to US Dollar slightly fell by 0.28% compared with its initial level at the beginning of the month.
Oil and Gas prices:
WTI Spot oil price inclined very sharply by 2.26% as it reacted to the gains in the stock markets yesterday; it settled at $84.12 per barrel; during August the WTI spot oil price declined by 12.1%. Brent spot price on the other hand decreased by 0.61% to $108.86 per barrel. This change in direction is considered to stem from the recent news from Libya.
Due to these changes, the difference between Brent and WTI declined to $24.74/bbl.
Natural gas Henry Hub future price (September delivery) moderately declined by 1.27% to $3.89/mmbtu. The Henry Hub spot price also fell by 0.5% to $3.97/mmbtu; the gap between the spot and future price reached -$0.09, i.e. backwardation. During August, natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) fell by 6.8%.
A summary of yesterday’s Prices Changes:
The table below includes: closing prices, daily percent change, and change in prices and indexes in US dollars (except for USD/CAD, in which the change is in Canadian dollars):
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For further reading:
Monthly Analysis and Outlook: