Gold and silver prices changed direction and slipped during most of the week. The low volatility in the precious metals market returned after the elections and the uncertainty around the results of the elections may have contributed to the rise in volatility. The minutes of the recent FOMC meeting didn’t reveal any insight regarding the next move of the Fed. Moreover, Bernanke’s recent speech also didn’t seem to affect the bullion or forex market. The Euro group is likely to decide on the Greek bailout by next week. Several reports were published during the week and may have had a moderate effect on the forex and commodities markets: the U.S jobless claims sharply rose by 78k to reach 439k; the Philly Fed index plunged to -10.7, plausibly due to the adverse effect Hurricane Sandy on the region; U.S core PPI edged down by 0.2%, while the U.S core CPI rose by 0.2%. These news items may have contributed to shifts of the USD. Finally, the Euro rose last week: the Euro/USD traded up by 0.26%; the Yen and Aussie dollar on the other hand depreciated against the USD. This mixed trend may have contributed to the low volatility of precious metals prices.
By the end of the week, gold slipped by 0.94%; silver, by 0.71%.
Here is a short recap of the developments in precious metals rates between November 12th and November 16th:
Precious Metals Recap:
Gold price changed direction and slipped during last week by 0.94%; conversely, during said time the average rate reached $1,722.86 /t. oz which is also 0.53% higher than the previous week’s average rate of $1,713.82 /t. oz. Gold finished at $1,714.7 /t. oz.
Silver, much like gold, declined during last week by 0.71%; on the other hand, the average rate declined by 2.05% to reach $32.59/t oz compared to the previous week’s average $31.93/t oz.
During last week, the average daily percent change of gold reached -0.19%; silver had an average of -0.14%.
As seen below, the chart shows the changes of precious metals, as their rates normalized to 100 as of November 9th. Bullion prices have had a moderate downward during most of the week.
The second chart shows the daily percent changes of bullion (or in other words the shifts around the trend). Silver and gold rose during of the week except on Wednesday. During last week, bullion rates daily percent changes ranged between nearly 1.2% gain and a 1% loss.
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