Closing Gold & Silver Market Report – 4/5/2012

BARGAIN HUNTERS BOOST GOLD, SILVER PRICES; EUROZONE FEARS FLARE UP  

Bargain hunters took advantage of lower prices for Gold and Silver today, helping both metals to end the day in positive territory. After signs from the Federal Reserve yesterday indicating that another round of quantitative easing is unlikely soon, precious metals prices dipped. However, some analysts are now saying that the Fed’s current policy can still support Gold prices, even without more easing. In a recent report, James Steel of banking giant HSBC said, “Policy is already ultra-accommodative by conventional monetary standards, and therefore Gold-friendly. This may be overlooked or underestimated in the current sell-off, we believe.”

As concerns over debt issues in Europe flared again today, stocks in the U.S. plummeted. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index saw its largest weekly fall so far for the year, after reaching its highest point in nearly three years at the beginning of this week. Portfolio strategist Greg Woodard with Manning & Napier said, “The volatility is going to continue. It’s going to be choppy. The trend seems to be improvement in the U.S. and continued difficulties outside the U.S.”

Greece is back in the news today, as concerns are growing that Greece could decide to pay out on the bonds being retained by holdouts who were not participants in last month’s debt swap deal, rather than face lawsuits if Greece defaults on those bonds. Yesterday, the Greek Finance Ministry gave another extension to the deadline for bondholders to agree to participate in a swap for securities worth about one-fourth of the value of the original bonds. Greece has given no indication what action it might take should those investors continue to abstain from the swap agreement.

At 4 p.m. (CDT), the APMEX precious metals spot prices were:

• Gold - $1,632.50 – Up $17.90.
• Silver - $31.79 – Up $0.69.
• Platinum - $1,607.80 – Up $10.20.
• Palladium - $646.80 – Up $13.10.

APMEX’s Account Managers will be available Friday! If you have any questions about investing in precious metals or would simply prefer to place your order by telephone, we are here to help.