Mid-Day Gold & Silver Market Report – 9/30/2014

Peter LaTona

9/30/2014 12:02:00 PM

GOLD APPROACHING $1,200 & SILVER BELOW $17 ON THE STRENGTH OF THE DOLLAR

Gold and Silver prices have continued to drop in morning trading as Silver dives below $17 and Gold looks like it could break $1,200. Gold futures hit a nine-month low and are on track for a three-month drop of 9.2 percent. Silver prices are down 19 percent since the end of June. Both metal prices are being hit hard by a climbing U.S. dollar and the continued expectation that the Fed is going to raise interest rates. The U.S. dollar is heading for the best quarter in six years. The U.S. stock market is relatively flat so far in today’s trading.

U.S. consumer confidence fell in September for the first time in five months. "We're continuing to effectively struggle," Mike Englund, chief economist at Action Economics, said. "Some of the optimism that we got in the updraft in consumer confidence in the third quarter was probably a bit overstated." The dip in consumer confidence was related to the job market, expectations that the economy is slowing down and the housing market. The housing market had disappointing numbers today. When comparing July 2013 home sales to July 2014 home sales prices rose less than expected.

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

• Gold, $1,210.50 Down $9.80
• Silver, $16.98 Down $0.66
• Platinum, $1,305.70 Down $5.80
• Palladium, $775.20 Down $14.30

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