Daily Gold & Silver Market Report – 3/4/2015

Brandi Brundidge

3/4/2015 12:02:44 PM

U.S. DOLLAR CLIMB STRESSES GOLD, SILVER; FED COULD POSTPONE RATE HIKE

The U.S. dollar reached its highest point since September 2003 due to improved U.S. government bond yields, pressuring Precious Metals.  “We have quite an event-heavy end of the week, with the U.S. payrolls data on Friday and the [European Central Bank] meeting tomorrow, so we are unlikely to see much positioning ahead,”  BN Amro analyst Georgette Boele said. The market will watch the euro’s performance following the ECB meeting Thursday and their fiscal policy implementation later this month.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans made strong remarks Wednesday in regards to the Fed increasing interest rates too quickly.  “Given uncomfortably low inflation and an uncertain global environment, there are few benefits and significant risks to increasing interest rates prematurely,” Evans said. “I think we should be patient in raising interest rates.”  Evans forecast the U.S. economy to develop at three percent over the next few years, with an estimated job growth of 200,000 a month, which he says do not provide a valid reason to hike interest rates earlier than the first half of 2016. 

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

• Gold, $1,203.50 Down $3.70
• Silver, $16.23 Down $0.14
• Platinum, $1,182.20 Down $8.40
• Palladium, $833.10 Up $0.50

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