Closing Gold & Silver Market Report – 10/25/2011

NEWS FROM EUROPE HAS AWOKEN THE SLEEPING GIANT

Precious metals continue to rise on the news of the European debt crisis meeting being canceled for this week.  Both gold and silver have broken through to a one-month high, with gold finally passing the $1,700 mark investors have been watching for.  Richard Ross, Chief Technical Strategist at Auerbach Grayson & Co., commented on the jump in prices, “Gold has kind of been like a sleeping giant for the last month or so.” 

Gold may also have been awakened by news of the August Case-Shiller 20-city home price index declining as much as 3.8% year-over-year.  The September number for consumer confidence had also fallen, coming in at 39.8, short of the 46 estimate.  This number puts it at the lowest since March 2009.

At 4:00 PM (CT) the APMEX precious metals spot prices were:

zerohedge.com
OCTOBER 25, 2011

 

Morning Gold & Silver Market Report – 10/25/2011 

PRIVATE DEBT HOLDERS REPORTEDLY ASKED TO TAKE 60% HIT ON GREECE

In overnight trading, gold and silver rose on worries over the euro zone.  U.S. stock futures are flat, also likely due to the news coming out of Europe.  One stock trader described activity as “very, very quiet,” and said it will probably remain so until U.S. economic data is released later this morning.  News from Greece is taking a slight turn towards the negative, as private bond holders are now being asked to take significantly bigger hits (one report says 60%) on the country’s debt burden than the originally agreed-upon 21%.

There is some outside speculation that China could be heading for a significant downturn in growth, which would be extremely dangerous for the global economy.  Most economists do not believe that this will happen, but it has not stopped the speculation.  Economists from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said in a note, “It would take a severe shock to China for the negative spillovers to be transmitted beyond Asia,” but even just a 2% drop in gross domestic product could immediately impact areas like Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.  A drop of 6%, a “full-blown crash,” would affect Europe’s biggest economies and even be felt in the U.S.

Gold is looking at more gains for the third day in a row.  “Nobody really wants to go short on gold,” said Bernard Sin of MKS Finance SA.  “I don’t think Europe will be out of the woods yet.  [Also, T]here is physical demand in India” due to the Diwali religious festival.  Nick Trevethan of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said, “We’re seeing some progress in Europe, but the market’s been disappointed before.  There’s still a lot of good reasons to be holding gold.  The world is still relatively shaky, we’re a low interest rate environment in many parts of the world.”

At 8:15 am (CT) the APMEX precious metals spot prices were:

kingworldnews.com
OCTOBER 24, 2011

 

With gold, silver, commodities and stocks moving sharply to the upside, today King World News interviewed acclaimed money manager Stephen Leeb, Chairman & Chief Investment Officer of Leeb Capital Management.  When asked about the action in commodities, Leeb responded,  “Commodity prices, it’s true, are below their all-time high.  But when you step back and look at it from a yearly perspective, the vast majority of commodities are averaging all-time high prices in 2011.”

Morning Gold & Silver Market Report – 10/24/2011 

Precious Metals Prices Are Moving Up – Gold prices have risen over 1% in early morning trading, as European leaders continue to slog towards a bailout plan and there is news that they Chinese economy may look better than forecasted. Gold seems to be bouncing back and forth between a safe-haven play and a commodity. There seems to be less speculation in gold, as measured by the lower volume in futures contracts. This investor view would consider gold a commodity. At the same time, there has been greater interest in physical gold ownership, which would be a safe-haven, asset allocation strategy.

Investor’s continue to show cautious optimism that European leaders will come out with a comprehensive plan this week to solve their debt problems. The Sunday summit had no breaking news, but leaders did repeat their pledge to come up with a plan. In 2008, U.S. leaders allowed the truck to drive up to the brink of disaster before taking significant action. Those economists most concerned with Europe wonder whether they are on the same path to disaster, and when crunch time comes, how will 17 nations all come to an agreement? It was hard enough for the U.S. to make a decision, can 17 governments come to an agreement in time to keep the truck from driving over the cliff?

wealthwire.com
OCTOBER 21, 2011

 

This Friday morning, gold prices inched up to a more solid price rate, trading inversely with the weakened dollar index.

Overall dollar trading this week has been rather “choppy.” Additionally, the markets are awaiting an official plan from Europe's leaders regarding the EU debt crisis. These two factors are putting the precious metals market in a bullish light.

In London, A.M. gold was fixed at $1,623.00 compared to last night's P.M. fixing of $1,620.00.

Gold bulls looking towards long-term benefits have the technical advantage right now.

Bulls' next upside technical objective is to produce a close above solid technical resistance at $1,705.40 in December futures. Such would provide the bulls with fresh upside technical momentum to suggest an uptrend can be re-established. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is closing prices below psychological support at $1,600.00. First resistance is seen at Thursday’s high of $1,646.50 and then at Wednesday’s high of $1,666.90. First support is seen at the overnight low of $1,612.80 and then at this week’s low of $1,604.70.

December silver futures have slumped slightly this week as well.

Silver bulls' next upside price objective is producing a close above strong technical resistance at $33.585 an ounce. Such would suggest the silver market has put in a near-term low and prices can then trend higher. The next downside price breakout objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at the October low of $28.435. First resistance is seen at Thursday’s high of $31.375 and then at $32.00. Next support is seen at the overnight low of $30.28 and then at this week’s low of $29.935.

So, although many commodity investors have been preparing for the worst and facing some serious sell-off pressure, most analysts predict that a majority of commodities will rise more substantially as soon as the financial debacles subside in the EU.

While a lot of investors began selling commodities in a slight panic this week, hedge funds have been especially aggressive.

Europe's crisis aside,  Barclays Capital believes the macro-economic outlook everywhere else is looking up.  Data suggests evidence that the U.S. is breaking away from the recent soft patch we've been struggling to escape from and China may be heading for “a soft landing.”

Barclays says they are favoring corn, crude oil, and aluminum as commodities with the most “constructive medium-term fundamentals.”

As far as gold is concerned, re-established fear of inflation and the currency devaluation are set to keep gold prices flying high

Original source

 

Closing Gold & Silver Market Report – 10/21/2011

It is Still All About Europe – The U.S. stock market soared along with precious metals prices on continued optimism going into this weekend’s European summit. Although there are some important differences between France and Germany that have not been worked out, the market is betting a plan will eventually fall into place. It is also being reported that the Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund will approve the next tranche of financial support for Greece. If approved, this will at least keep Greece from defaulting on their debts this year.

The deadline for the U.S. congressional “super committee” is only weeks away and there are no signs of a plan and no signs of an end to bi-partisan bickering. This committee was charged with developing a bi-partisan deficit reduction plan. If they fail to come up with a plan or if their plan fails to be approved, automatic reduction triggers will enact spending cuts across the board. Neither party would favor the trigger of these automatic spending cuts.

A story that could be very important to future gold prices has not made much news this week. The Hong Kong Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange began trading gold quoted in the Chinese yuan on Monday. It is expected that this could generate as much as HK$6 billion ($770 million) in trades each day. Hong Kong’s demand for gold as a safe haven against stock risks has increased over 400% this year. Hong Kong Exchange President Haywood Cheung said “The sudden influx into gold bars may take away half of the yuan liquidity in Hong Kong. The uncertainties in the global economy are supporting gold.” It is well known that the Asian markets have a voracious appetite for gold. According to the World Gold Council, India and China accounted for 52% of the gold sales in 2010. Allowing for the purchase of gold based on the yuan should only exacerbate the move from paper currency to gold.

At 4PM (CT) the APMEX precious metals prices were:

kingworldnews.com
OCTOBER 20, 2011

With gold around $1,610 and silver above $30, today King World News interviewed Ben Davies, CEO of Hinde Capital, to get his take on where the gold & silver markets are headed.  When asked about the action in the metals, Davies responded,  “Look, we can’t have our cake and eat it too.  The (gold) market has been the best performing asset and obviously I believe it is a monetary asset.  It’s very tempting as individuals when you see it correct 10%, mentally we all think in terms of fiat currency and you feel, ‘I’ve lost 10% of my value.’”   

“But in reality other asset classes went down as well.  Your purchasing power was still retained and actually over the course of even this year, the outperformance if you’ve owned physical gold has been superlative. 

kingworldnews.com
OCTOBER 20, 2011

Gold and silver bounced off of the lows today because of massive buying from the Chinese.  A trader out of London told King World News,  “The price discount in gold is the most welcome thing to the entire Eastern Hemisphere.  The Chinese are buying very relentlessly because they know what is going to happen.  We had a major, major physical buy order today.  The Chinese bought a massive amount of physical today at the lows.”

The London Trader continues:

“They (the Asians) are aware of how tight physical supply is and they buy in London towards the fix because they know there is an 80% chance the commercials will take it down and they will get a better price.  The Asians sit there and say, ‘Bring it on because we’ve got some orders to fill.’  They just want out of their dollars.