Precious Metal Prices Start to Shakeup After Gains

Cassie Bastien

8/4/2017 10:41:27 AM

Daily Gold & Silver Market Report – 08/04/2017

Investors are in awe at the release of the U.S. jobs report today. The U.S. added 209,000 jobs in July, which surpassed expectations. Recent data and ongoing political tensions have continued to weigh on the dollar, raising doubts over whether the Fed will raise rates again this year or not, helping Gold prices hold its value - until today. NASDAQ along with Investing.com report that “The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.11 percent at 92.60, just off Wednesday's 15-month low of 92.39.”

U.S. Stocks Fall to Session Lows

U.S. stocks fell to session lows and treasuries extended gains after the Wall Street Journal reported special counsel Robert Mueller was said to have impaneled a grand jury in the ongoing Russia probe, and that the ongoing chaos in Washington surrounding potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia will continue. Stocks had traded with little changed for most of the session with corporate earnings in focus before Friday’s jobs report. Fortune/Bloomberg reports that The S&P 500 Index extended declines to 0.3 percent, while the yield on 10-year Treasuries fell to 2.22 percent as of 3:36 p.m. in New York. Furthermore, the dollar weakened versus the yen.

Crude Oil Has Worsened

The long-time oil bull, formally known as the "oil god,” threw in the towel on his largest Astenbeck Capital Management, LLC commodity fund, causing crude oil prices to drop. Senior energy analyst Phil Flynn with RescourceInvestor.com said, “Not only did he close the fund, he shook his bullish followers with a blasphemous statement that oil may be stuck around $50 a barrel or lower.” Hall’s fund was down reportedly around 30 percent, forcing other oil bulls to be shaken and start to sell. However, Flynn says that “…if you believe that at some point the fundamentals will eventually win out and if you have deep enough pockets, you can sometimes ride out market moves and get to the point where the fundamentals will eventually come into play and prices will be forced to certain levels as the supply and demand fundamentals play out and finally become clear.” The best thing to do in scenarios such as this is to not beat yourself up mentally and question your moves within the market. As production from wells rapidly decline, drillers are rushing to add new ones at a faster pace to keep increasing output. The problem with that is that drilling multiple wells closer together is contributing to the drop in established ones, and sometimes causing harm that can’t be fixed. Nonetheless, similar to other commodities, the proof is in the pudding; supply is going down while the demand is increasing.

At 11:41 a.m. (ET), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,259.00 Down  $12.00
• Silver, $16.36 Down $0.37
• Platinum, $970.30 Up $5.70
• Palladium, $887.70 Up $0.70

APMEX’s Account Managers now have extended hours Mondays through Thursdays and are here to serve you until 8 p.m. (ET)! Or call us Fridays until 6 p.m. (ET)! If you have any questions about investing in Precious Metals or simply would prefer to place your order by telephone, we are here to help.