Mid-Day Gold & Silver Market Report – 4/10/2012

Timothy Oakes

4/10/2012 12:05:00 PM

JOB OPENINGS RISE IN U.S.; NORTH KOREA NOT STANDING DOWN  

Precious metals prices have been trading rather briskly today, with the Gold price staying relatively close to $1,655 mark after swinging lower at mid-morning. Economic pressures, foreign and domestic, continue to prey on prices of precious metals. Commerzbank’s Eugene Weinberg said, “I think that for another couple of months Gold is likely to stay under pressure … but looking forward, by the end of the year we do expect another record high for Gold because we do expect more monetary easing, not just from the Fed but also by the ECB and also by the Asian central banks. … I am pretty confident that for the time being, this medium-term trend is likely to stay downward, and we are likely even to see prices below $1,600 short term.” He also stands by his long-term outlook for Gold to be higher than $1,900 an ounce by the end of the year.

The United States and South Korea are both wary of North Korea’s intentions when it comes to launching a missile. Although North Korea claims this will be a rocket launch for a weather satellite, the plan has South Korea and the U.S. concerned. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke with South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin. Pentagon spokesman Greg Little said, “Both leaders would regard a missile launch by North Korea as a serious provocation and a violation of North Korea’s international obligations and standing U.N. Security Council resolutions.” There is hope China will exert some diplomatic influence over North Korea to try to get North Korea to stop their testing.

Employers’ outlook on the current economic landscape looks to be improving as the number of job openings in the U.S. reached the highest number in nearly three years. The labor market pick-up may curb the Federal Reserve’s concerns over slow job creation. Senior economist Michael Gapen said, “There is a pretty strong, solid uptrend in job openings. The labor market is gradually getting better when you continue to look across a broad swath of indicators.”

At 12:02 p.m. (CDT), the APMEX precious metals spot prices were:

• Gold - $1,658.10 – Up $13.70.
• Silver - $31.76 – Up $0.18.
• Platinum - $1,595.70 – Down $21.50.
• Palladium - $638.40 – Down $6.50.

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