Gold and silver prices started off the week with falls, and continue this path as they are currently traded down, becuase the financial markets continue to demonstrate uncertainty. Let’s examine the precious metal market for May 17th:
Gold and silver prices – May
Gold price started off the week with a very moderate decline of 0.20% and reached 1,490$.
Silver price also declined and reached on Monday 34.13$, a 2.52% decline.
During May, gold price decreased by 4.2%, while silver price declined by 29.8%.
The chart below of normalized silver and gold prices (100= May 2nd) shows the downward trend of both of these metals prices during May.
The gold to silver ratio: As of Monday, May 16th the ratio between gold and silver prices fell to 43.67. The ratio could be interpreted as one troy ounce (31.1 gram) of gold is worth 43.67 troy ounces of silver.
The AUD/US dollar and gold and silver prices
During May, the changes in gold and silver prices were probably stimulated, in part, by the changes in the US dollar compared to major currencies.
The chart below shows the strong correlation of gold and silver prices (daily percent changes) with AUD/USD.
During May, so far, the high linear correlation between AUD/USD and gold prices reached 90% correlation. This is the highest correlation that recorded in 2011 between AUD/USD and gold prices.
Australia is among the leading countries in producing gold, and during the last quarter of 2010, Australia was the leading country in gold production growth. This growth was due to rising production of Newmont Asia Pacific.
The recent decline gold prices, probably affected the AUD/USD as it fell by 3.8% during May (UTD).
US
Ben’s speech – yesterday, the chairman of Federal Reserve gave a speech about the labor market and economic growth. He referred to the importance of reach and development in the US economy; the R&D was usually stable around the 2-2.5% of GDP (private and public). In order to stimulate the economy the government should support R&D. By doing so, it could lead to an economic growth. Bernanke didn’t directly refer to the upcoming ending of the stimulus plan of the Federal Reserve at the end of June.
Europe
Euro Area CPI – yesterday, the April CPI was published of the Euro Area. The report showed a rise of 2.8% in CPI (annual terms).
Since the inflation rate reached the expectations, the EURO/USD didn’t change much yesterday and the major commodities were affected from the news.
Middle East
The concerns around the stability in the Middle East aren’t just because many of OPEC members are located there, but also because of its pivotal location for transport. See here for the recent news from the Middle East.
Current Gold and Silver prices
In the US markets, major precious metals prices are traded with falls:
The current gold price, short term futures (June 2011 delivery) is traded at 1,475.8 USD / t oz. a 14.8$ decrease or 0.99%, as of 17.04*.
Current silver price, short term futures is at 33.38USD / t oz – a 0.752 decline or 2.2%, as of 17.03*.
(* GMT)
The current ratio of gold to silver prices is at 44.18.
Gold and silver prices Outlook and Analysis:
Gold and silver prices continue to demonstrate no clear direction in recent days following the first week of May in which they have tumbled down (especially silver).
I still speculate that in the short term, silver and gold prices will remain high and the current uncertainty in the currencies market will reflect in high volatility in the commodities markets.
Here is a reminder of the top events and reports that are planed for today (all times GMT):
Today
2.30 – Monetary Policy meeting Australia’s Bank
Tomorrow
15.30 – EIA report about Crude oil inventories
19.00 – FOMC meeting minutes regarding rate decision
[ratings]
For further reading (in this site):
- Weekly outlook for May 16-20
- Gold didn’t move | Silver kept on falling – weekly recap 9-13 May
- Gold and silver prices outlook May 2011 – what’s next for gold & silver?