Morning Gold & Silver Market Report – 10/24/2011

Precious Metals Prices Are Moving Up – Gold prices have risen over 1% in early morning trading, as European leaders continue to slog towards a bailout plan and there is news that the Chinese economy may look better than forecasted. Gold seems to be bouncing back and forth between a safe-haven play and a commodity. There seems to be less speculation in gold, as measured by the lower volume in futures contracts. This investor view would consider gold a commodity. At the same time, there has been greater interest in physical gold ownership, which would be a safe-haven, asset allocation strategy.

Investor’s continue to show cautious optimism that European leaders will come out with a comprehensive plan this week to solve their debt problems. The Sunday summit had no breaking news, but leaders did repeat their pledge to come up with a plan. In 2008, U.S. leaders allowed the truck to drive up to the brink of disaster before taking significant action. Those economists most concerned with Europe wonder whether they are on the same path to disaster, and when crunch time comes, how will 17 nations all come to an agreement? It was hard enough for the U.S. to make a decision, can 17 governments come to an agreement in time to keep the truck from driving over the cliff?

• Gold price - $1,658.80 – up $20.70
• Silver price - $31.62 – up 39 cents
• Platinum price - $1,536.40 – up $27.40
• Palladium price - $633.10 – up $12.80