Mid-Day Gold & Silver Market Report – 9/15/2014

Peter LaTona

9/15/2014 12:00:00 PM

CHINA’S INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT SLIPS TO LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 2008 FINANCIAL CRISIS

Even investors who do not pay attention to Chinese economic activity should take note of recent data showing Chinese industrial output growth in August slipped to its lowest level since the global financial crisis of 2008. Other Chinese economic data such as property, investment and retail released on the same day also point to slower growth. Chinese officials are downplaying these numbers as being reasonable, but many economists are commenting that the world’s second largest economy looks worse than expected. There is a higher probability than ever that the Chinese government will step in and take a more aggressive approach cutting interest rates.

The U.S. Federal Reserve appears close to raising interest rates and slowly bringing things back to the norm. This would send ripples across the globe, as the U.S. is the only major economy showing signs of recovery. In a desperate bid to revitalize their economy, the European Central Bank recently announced interest rate cuts. The U.S. recovery has largely been fueled by cheap Fed money, so now Fed Chair Janet Yellen must decide how to pare back support.  “It does seem like a done deal that it is going to increase interest rates," Paul Dales of economics consultancy Capital Economics said. "We are going into a new phase where the Fed is trying to bring things back to normal. It can send reverberations around the world economy."

At 1:00 p.m. (ET), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,236.10 Up $3.60
• Silver, $18.70 Up $0.03
• Platinum, $1,364.70 Down $6.80
• Palladium, $836.90 Up $0.80

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