Gold Price Charts Headed for Best Year Since 2010

Cassie Bastien

12/29/2017 10:56:58 AM

Daily Gold & Silver Market Report – 12/29/2017

The price of Gold hit one-month highs Friday, putting it on track for its best year since 2010, according to market analysts at RTE. Gold, which is also on track for its best month since August, has benefited from technically-driven momentum as well as the U.S. dollar's downtrend and geopolitical uncertainties. The report says, “Spot Gold has gained more than 1.7 percent so far this week, heading for its third-straight weekly rise, and added more than 12 percent for the year.” Many Precious Metal investors predicted the dollar would get a boost from U.S. tax cuts, tighter central bank monetary policy and strong growth rates in 2017. However, reports show the dollar index is down more than 9 percent this year, setting up for its biggest annual loss since 2003. “The fact that both the dollar and interest rates have been heading lower ever since the tax bill has passed tells us that investors may be seeing the measure as falling short in its primary aim of spurring growth,” INTL FCStone Analyst Edward Meir said. Meanwhile, spot Palladium has been the best performer this year, rising more than 57 percent due to strong demand from car catalyst makers amid production shortages.

Silver Price Value

Believed to have been discovered around 5000 BC, Silver was said to be more valuable than Gold in ancient Egypt. With a melting point of 961°C and a boiling point of 2162°C, Silver has the highest electrical conductivity and the highest light reflectance among all known metals. With that, the industrial value of Silver as well as its high Precious Metal content helps drive supply and demand of the gray metal. In fact, those lines we see on the rear windscreen of cars, used for defrosting and defogging, are made from Silver. A report from Rissadiary.com says in the U.S., “an alloy can only be called Silver if it has at least 90 percent pure Silver.”

Bitcoin Ends 2017 Strong

One year ago at the time of writing, according to Stan Higgins with CoinDesk, “The price of bitcoin traded between $930 and $978.” On New Year’s Day, the cryptocurrency's value broke the $1,000 level, causing news headlines all over. Little did we know, that would be first of many headlines for Bitcoin in 2017. Bitcoin managed to climb from $1,000 to nearly $20,000. However, many investors and market analysts question where Bitcoin and other digital currencies are headed in 2018.

At 11:56 a.m. (ET), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,306.20 Up $8.50
• Silver, $17.11 Up $0.15
• Platinum, $936.70 Up $6.20
• Palladium, $1,066.00 Down $8.50

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