Mid-Day Gold & Silver Market Report – 11/29/2011

EUROPE NOT ON THE BACK BURNER YET

The Gold price is up slightly since the Morning Gold & Silver Market Report, with the European debt crisis and domestic credit issues still raging in the news. Gold is known to be a volatile and liquid asset. James Moore, a research analyst at FastMarkets.com, said, “Further pockets of bargain hunting and safe-haven-related buying will help support the Gold in the coming sessions.”

It is being reported that the outlook for France's AAA credit rating may be in jeopardy by credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s within the next 10 days. French Finance Minister Francois Baroin told France Info radio, “France is not an island or economically cut off from the world. It depends on different parts of the eurozone for a large part of its economic activity, and that's why we are, to a large extent, clear-sighted on the crisis.”

Europe is possibly heading into financial collapse with the possibility of a breakup of the eurozone. Germany is the leading economy in Europe, and it is a widely held belief that Germany could prevent a breakup if it tried. Poland Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said, “I demand of Germany that, for your own sake and for ours, you help it (the eurozone) survive and prosper. You know full well that nobody else can do it. I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say so, but here it is: I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear German inactivity.”

However, in good domestic economic news, stock markets are on the rise based on growing confidence in the American economy. “The economic reports have shown that the U.S. has been insulated from all the noise coming out of Europe,” said Paul Zemsky, the New York-based head of asset allocation for ING Investment Management. “Consumers are not really bothered by that, at least not yet.”

At 12:07 p.m. (CST), the APMEX precious metals spot prices were:

• Gold - $1,715.00 – Up $2.50.
• Silver - $31.91 – Down $0.33.
• Platinum - $1,540.00 – Down $0.50.
• Palladium - $582.30 – Up $0.70.