Mid-Day Gold & Silver Market Report – 1/4/2013

Ted Prince

1/4/2013 11:59:00 AM

GOLD, SILVER DROP ON QE SPECULATION

Precious Metals prices have slipped again today as a possible ending of the Federal Reserve’s asset purchase program might come sooner than expected. This speculation comes after minutes of the latest Fed meeting were released. However, this assumption appears to be premature as the unemployment rate remained unchanged in December. “Even with decent employment growth no downward progress has been made on the unemployment rate. This will tend to play to views that unemployment rate will take a long time to get to levels that encourage tighter Fed policy,” Alan Ruskin, a macro strategist at Deutsche Bank, said.

With Precious Metals prices dropping, stocks have followed the dollar up as reports show an increase in workers for the month of December. “It’s not an incredibly strongly labor market but it’s mending and it’s going to continue to take time,” Greg Woodard, a strategist at Manning & Napier, said. The recent pull back for Gold and Silver has created a buying opportunity for many who see the continuation of monetary stimulus measures as positive for Precious Metals prices in the long-term.

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

• Gold, $1,648.30, Down $28.60.
• Silver, $29.85, Down $0.90.
• Platinum, $1,550.50, Down $23.40.
• Palladium, $688.50, Down $9.70.

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