Morning Gold & Silver Market Report – 12/26/2012

RETAIL SALES LOW; FISCAL CLIFF DEADLINE APPROACHES

President Obama cut his Hawaii vacation short to return to Washington to deal with the unfinished fiscal cliff negotiations. There is a Jan. 1 deadline, after which, if not met, most Americans will feel a sharp rise in taxes. Both parties are eager to pass a measure to keep taxes low, but the sticking point is on difficult spending cuts. Any bill that is passed may not contain the cuts that either party wishes, but the automatic cuts set to take effect Jan. 1 seem to be unacceptable to the president.

U.S. holiday sales numbers are in, and they were the weakest since 2008, a year that the nation was in a deep recession. This year’s poor performance is currently being blamed on bad weather and the fiscal cliff. Sales were expected to increase 3 to 4 percent this year in the two months prior to Christmas, but retailers only saw a .7 percent growth in sales. Things are not over yet though; the final week of December accounts for about 15 percent of the month’s sales.

The Gold price is trading mostly even on Wednesday as investors are keeping their eyes on the negotiations in Washington. The Gold price dipped early when the dollar edged higher against the yen, but is currently settling in almost flat.

At 9 a.m. (EST), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,664.00, Up $4.10.
• Silver, $30.10, Up $0.20.
• Platinum, $1,547.10, Up $10.20.
• Palladium, $691.20, Up $6.70.

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