The recent news from Greece is that there will be elections on June 17th. The housing starts rose by 2.6% in April. This news along with the recent developments in Europe may have been among the factors to further drag down gold and silver prices. Crude oil price (WTI) also fell; natural gas future hiked again. The Euro also slipped again against the USD. Other exchange rates also fell against the USD such as Aussie dollar.
Here is a summary of the daily developments in precious metals and energy commodities for May 16th, 2012:
Precious Metals:
Gold plummeted by 1.32% to $1,536.6; Silver also tumbled down by 3.15% and reached $27.2. During the month, gold decreased by 7.67% and silver by 12.32%.
The Euro/USD also slipped by 0.1% to 1.2716; furthermore, the U.S Dollar also appreciated against other currencies such as the Canadian dollar.
Energy Commodities:
WTI oil price also declined by 1.24% to $92.81 per barrel; Brent oil also fell by 1.31% to $110.26 per barrel;
Following these changes, the difference between Brent and WTI settled $17.45/bbl. During the month, WTI fell by 11.5% and Brent oil by 7.9%.
The Henry Hub future (June delivery) spiked again by 4.8% to $2.62/mmbtu; the Henry Hub spot also hiked to $2.5/mmbtu; the difference between the spot and future increased to $0.12/mmbtu, i.e. Contango.
A Summary for May 16th:
The table below includes: closing prices, daily percent changes, and daily changes:
For further reading: