Precious metals rates resumed their downward trend during last week. Their sharpest decline came on Friday following the publication of the U.S non-farm payroll report, in which 171k jobs were added during October. This positive report slightly eased the concerns many traders have towards the progress of the U.S economy. This report also lowers the odds of the Fed intervening again the U.S money market. There were several reports published last week that may have also affected the forex and commodities markets: the U.S manufacturing PMI edged up during October to reach 51.7%; jobless claims declined by 9k to reach 363k. These news items may have contributed to decrease of precious metals rates. Further, the recent report regarding China, in which China’s manufacturing PMI rose to 50.2, may have had a positive effect on commodities prices. Finally, the Euro also declined last week: the Euro/USD traded down by 0.83%; the Yen and Aussie dollar also depreciated against the USD..
By the end of the week, gold declined by 2.14%; silver, by 3.67%.
Here is a short recap of the developments in precious metals rates between October 29th and November 2nd:
Precious Metals Recap:
Gold price declined during last week by 2.14%; further, during said time the average rate reached $1,706.12 /t. oz which is also 0.37% below the previous week’s average rate of $1,712.44 /t. oz. Gold finished at $1, 675.2 /t. oz.
Silver, even more than gold, decreased during last week by 3.67%; further, the average rate decreased by 0.5% to reach $31.8/t oz compared to the previous week’s average $31.96/t oz.
During last week, the average daily percent change of gold reached -0.43%; silver had an average of -0.73%.
As seen below, the chart shows the developments of precious metals, as their prices normalized to 100 as of October 26th. Bullion prices have had a shifted with an unclear trend during the first few days of the week and by Friday they have both sharply declined.
The second chart presents the daily percent shifts of bullion (or in other words the shifts around the trend). Silver and gold remained nearly unchanged in the first few days of the week until Friday when both precious metals tumbled down. During the week, precious metals daily percent shifts ranged between nearly 1.5% gain and a 4.3% loss.
For further reading: