Mid-Day Gold & Silver Market Reports – 12/17/2013

Paul Stevens

12/17/2013 12:47:00 PM

PRECIOUS METALS AND U.S. STOCKS DOWN AHEAD OF TAPER DECISION

Precious Metals prices continue to trade low through mid-day trading.  After showing positive gains over the last two days, Gold has started to decline ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary-policy decision.  After the release of recent economic data and an agreement on the U.S. budget, speculation remains that the Federal Reserve will finally begin to taper its quantitative easing program.  Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at Forex.com said, “ The main question is whether and by how much will the Fed decide to reduce QE…This means that a ‘small’ reduction may already have been priced in[to gold].”

U.S. stocks are beginning to fall ahead of the Federal Reserve decision.  Matthew Kaufler, portfolio manager at Federated Investors said, “The market is waiting with baited breath to see what comes out of the Fed. There seems to be somewhat of a division in that there's a contingent that would like to see the tapering get underway so we could have greater certainty, and another that would like to see it continue as long as possible.” 

At 1:48 p.m. (ET), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,231.60, Down $15.30.
• Silver, $19.91, Down $0.24.
• Platinum, $1,348.00, Down $15.10.
• Palladium, $702.30, Down $14.10

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