RECESSION, MAYBE – MAYBE NOT
Gold and silver prices have remained relatively even during the trading day. For the day, gold is up $31.40 and silver is up $2.15. The rise is relative to the overall concern that stocks are pricing in a potential recession, which heightens the demand for safe havens.
However, according to Abby Joseph Cohen, a senior investment strategist with Goldman Sachs, the stock market may price in a recession, but a recession is not likely. She says, “Let’s be very clear, there are some fundamental worries, but our feeling is the valuation of the U.S. stock market is already pricing in a rather ugly scenario. There are many different ways to look at the mathematics of valuation, but one of them is to say at these levels on the [Standard & Poor's 500] what’s priced in is many years of no earnings growth. That does not seem to us to be the most likely scenario."
Middle East concerns are not subsiding despite a proclamation from the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that a crackdown on protests was over, yet deaths continue to mount in the country. The fighting continues in Libya, as a serious counter-attack was launched by Muammar Gaddafi to help push back rebel advances.
At 12:12 PM (CT) the APMEX precious metal prices were:
- Gold price - $1,857.60 – up $33.60
- Silver price - $42.52 - up $0.95
- Platinum price - $1,877.10 – up $29.40
- Palladium price - $751.10 – down $3.10