Mid-Day Gold & Silver Market Report – 10/3/2012

GOLD AND THE DEBATE; GLOBAL ECONOMY CONTINUES SKID

The Gold price has moved up today as the United States looks ahead to tonight’s first presidential debate of the election year. This election could shape the outlook of the U.S. economy for years to come. One person in particular, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, has quite a lot riding on this election. If the current administration is kept in office, it would most likely keep Bernanke employed. However, Mitt Romney has publicly stated that if he is elected, Bernanke’s tenure would come to an end. If a change were to come to the Federal Reserve, many wonder about the future of monetary easing and what the effect would be to the Precious Metals market.

The global economic picture has been declining for years and many wonder when or if there will be a turn around. There is one economist that believes the current economic slide will be ongoing for many years to come. "It's not yet a lost decade… But it will surely take at least a decade from the beginning of the crisis for the world economy to get back to decent shape," said Olivier Blanchard, the International Monetary Fund's chief economist. He cited Asia, Europe and the United States as being major contributors to the economic issues at hand.

There are economic reports that did shine some good news on the United States today. The U.S. services sector and private sector both showed gains above forecasts for the month of September. "Is the global economy heading into another recession? This is now becoming a genuine possibility, given events in recent months," said Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Standard Chartered in London. While the reports are not a massive improvement, they are a positive that most global economies would be happy in today’s market.

At 1 pm (EDT), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1780.30, Up $5.70.
• Silver, $34.74, Up $0.07.
• Platinum, $1689.60, Up $5.40.
• Palladium, $659.00, Up $3.80.

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