Mid-Day Gold & Silver Market Report, 8/21/2012

Brandi Brundidge

8/21/2012 12:25:00 PM

GOLD PRICE HOLDS; GASOLINE PRICES CLIMB  

Gold continues to be buoyed by a strong euro and stock markets; however Platinum continues to be the biggest climber in the past seven days. Strike related violence at a South African mine operated by Lonmin last week has pushed the Platinum price up nearly $100 per ounce week over week. The company reported that nearly 60 percent of its workers reported to work Monday. “We still suspect that Platinum will likely have a hard time pushing past the $1,500 mark, especially if there is a marked easing of tensions,” INTL FCStone published in a note. “More importantly, prices could be vulnerable once an announcement is made that units are starting to flow out.”

Supply issues and climbing crude oil prices have retail gasoline prices at season highs in America. The national average of $3.744 is up 2.3 cents from last year’s $3.581. “Crudes prices are most of it, and gasoline stocks are still really low,” said David Hackett, the president of Stillwater Associates in Irvine, Calif., an independent fuel consultant. “I don’t expect any relief in gasoline prices until after Labor Day” on Sept. 3, he said.

Russia has reacted to President Barack Obama’s threat of “enormous consequences” against Syria’s use of chemical or biological weapons. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said both Moscow and Beijing were committed to “the need to strictly adhere to the norms of international law and not to allow their violation.” Both Russia and China have opposed direct military intervention in Syria and have vetoed three United Nations Security Council resolutions to date. On Monday, Obama used his strongest language yet to warn against the use of unconventional weapons. “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is (if) we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized,” the president said. “"That would change my calculus.”

At 1 p.m. (EDT), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,639.30, Up $17.80.
• Silver, $29.44, Up $0.74.
• Platinum, $1,508.50, Up $9.30.
• Palladium, $625.30, Up $16.10.

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