Mid-Day Gold & Silver Market Report – 8/22/2011

Gold Prices Continue to Climb Towards $1900

All precious metals prices (gold, silver, platinum and palladium) have continued to show strong gains in morning trading. The U.S. stock market has been upbeat as well, although it came off its highs for the day when more weakness was predicted for European banks. We see a mixed message in today’s market, as some investors step back into risk, while others back strongly away.

In Libya, there is still no sign of Muammar Gaddafi, but the end of his reign will also mark the end of what has been termed the “Arab Spring”. This long and bloody chapter of populist revolutions may conclude for the time being, but there are still more questions than answers as to the “new governments” will look like. The only certainty seems to be that this will be a long transition to stability and possibly democracy.

Consumer confidence has hit its lowest point since May 1980, according to a preliminary report from Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan. Current projections indicate it will only get worse. It is not just the low and middle-income respondents falling, the high-income families are losing confidence as well.

At 12:15 PM (CT) the APMEX precious metal prices were:

• Gold price -$1,891.60 – up $37.40
• Silver price -$43.42 – up 88 cents
• Platinum price - $1,902.50 – up $27.60
• Palladium price - $764.00 – up $13.20