Closing Gold & Silver Market Report - 04/24/2012

Brandi Brundidge

4/24/2012 4:32:00 PM

GOLD TRAPPED IN WAITING GAME; DOWNGRADE WAS NO ERROR  

The Gold price finished the day higher but was blunted some by selling pressure ahead of an option expiration, and some uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting. Investors appear to be waiting for the meeting’s outcome, as trading was below average again. “Right now, the long put buyers have the control because they are in the money,” said Anthony Neglia, president of Tower Trading. “If the put buyers are under hedged, they are going to buy some Gold. Conversely, for the short put sellers, if they are under hedged, they are going to sell some Gold. So we may be trapped in this range,” he said.

Standard & Poor’s said again that it made no errors in its analysis that led to the downgrading of the United States’ credit rating in August. “Last summer, the U.S. government got extremely close to a real liquidity crisis because the Washington establishment could not agree on the way forward that would have been required to raise the debt ceiling,” said Mortiz Kraemer, managing director of sovereign ratings at S&P. “There was no mistake,” Kraemer said today. “There were different scenarios. These are measures about the future which you have to have an analytical debate on what is the likely strategy of fiscal consolidation the government might take.”

At 5 p.m. (EDT), the APMEX precious metals spot prices were:

• Gold - $1640.30 - Up $9.20.
• Silver - $30.87 - Up $0.27.
• Platinum - $1,544.80 - Down $10.50.
• Palladium - $669.10 - Down $2.80.

APMEX’S Account Managers now have extended hours and are here to serve you until 8 p.m. (EDT) Mondays through Thursdays, and until 6 p.m. (EDT) on Fridays! If you have any questions about investing in precious metals or would simply prefer to place you order by telephone, we are here to help.