Closing Gold & Silver Market Reports – 12/17/2013

Ted Prince

12/17/2013 3:49:24 PM

METALS DOWN AS COST OF LIVING HOLDS STEADY

The Gold price fell on Tuesday following reports that the average cost of living in the U.S. remained unchanged from October to November.  “Metals markets need to see some inflation before they can rally because they’ve lost their appeal as an inflation hedge,” Chris Gaffney, senior market strategist at EverBank Wealth Management, said.  Gold and Silver prices have benefited in the last few years as the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing (QE) program raised inflationary fears among analysts and investors.  From December 2008 through June 2011, Gold rose 70 percent as the Fed injected $2 trillion into financial markets.  Speculation that QE will soon be scaled down has put pressure on Gold during 2013.  However, the massive asset purchase program continues and many economists believe it is merely a matter of time before inflation takes hold. 

U.S. stocks fell today following yesterday’s rally as investors await the outcome of tomorrow’s Fed policy meeting.  “There are so many people watching the Fed’s decision, so much money on the edge, that the market is sort of just jumpy right now,” Sam Wardwell, investment strategist at Pioneer Investments, said. “Everybody knows the Fed is going to taper sooner or later.”  Equities indexes have fallen this month as positive economic data has raised the belief that the Fed will be ready to announce an initial stimulus taper following tomorrow’s meeting. 

At 4:46 p.m. (ET), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,233.50, Down $13.30.
• Silver, $19.95, Down $0.20.
• Platinum, $1,349.80, Down $13.30.
• Palladium, $699.90, Down $16.40.

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