Daily Gold & Silver Market Report – 8/4/2016

Marcey Hollon

8/4/2016 12:31:00 PM

GOLD UP AFTER BANK OF ENGLAND CUTS RATES; U.S. JOBLESS CLAIMS RISE AS LAYOFFS INCREASE

In an effort to ease the effect of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, the Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time since 2009 and said it will buy an additional 60 billion pounds of debt. "The revision in expectations for monetary policy in the U.S., Japan, the eurozone and the UK has played a big role in the rise in the Gold price so far this year, and we expect it to continue," Capital Economics analyst Simona Gambarini said.  "Monetary policy in the UK, eurozone and Japan is likely to remain extremely accommodative... that should be good for the price of Gold, despite the fact that they are less of an important factor than the Federal Reserve decision. They all add up to a general low or negative rate environment." Investors will keep an eye on the non-farm payroll reports due Friday for any signal of renewed expectations of the Federal Reserve raising rates.  

The labor market remains at a healthy level despite a rise in jobless claims last week as the energy sector experienced more job cuts. Unemployment numbers remain under the 300,000 threshold, which signifies a healthy market, for the 74th-straight week.  "This level of unemployment claims points to continued very subdued layoff rates at the start of the third quarter," RDW Economics Chief Economist John Ryding said.  A strong labor market boosts consumer spending and economists expect spending to increase going forward after sluggish growth the last three quarters.

 

At 4:38 P.M. (ET), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,363.20 Up $2.90
• Silver, $20.46 Down $0.03
• Platinum, $1,161.60 Down $5.00
• Palladium,$707.00 Down $7.90

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