Silver Prices Break About $15.50 Per Ounce

APMEX

1/2/2019 11:40:57 AM

Daily Gold & Silver Market Report – 1/2/2018

• Investors move away from riskier assets toward Gold.
• Silver prices rise above $15.50 per troy ounce.
• Bitcoin and other cryptos rally collectively adding $8 billion.

On Monday, Silver spot prices rose above $15.50 per troy ounce. While trading briefly dipped below this mark a few times since then, as of 11:20 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, the white metal was up to $15.68, the highest price of the week. FX Empire analyst Christopher Lewis believes this is an essential step for Silver, writing, “It is because of the significance of the break above $15 that I’m not willing to short this market, and I simply look at the market as offering an opportunity if you are patient enough.” He goes on to observe that,  “The U.S. dollar has softened a bit due to the reluctance of the Federal Reserve to continue its hawkish stance, so stronger Silver pricing makes sense.”

Gold Rises as Investors Dump Riskier Assets

For the fifth consecutive day, Gold prices continue to rise amid declines for riskier equities and extensive discussions of a slowing economy. Trade tensions between the U.S. and other major economies have led to a great deal of volatility in stock markets, adding fuel to the race of many investors toward safe-haven assets such as Gold and other Precious Metals. As of Wednesday morning, the U.S. entered the 12th day of government shutdowns over budget disputes. While some hope for new resolutions to be discussed today, there is little chance of the shutdown coming to an end this week. All these concerns contributed to Wall Street's down year, one of the worst in a decade according to Investing.com.

Further adding to Gold’s appeal is news that factory output in China contracted for the first time in a year and a half. This shrinkage is likely another result of the U.S.-China trade disputes. The U.S. dollar index was also up Wednesday morning. It is rare to see bullion prices go up alongside rising dollar strength, so it could be an indicator that interest in Precious Metals and other risk-averse assets is stronger than previously thought.

Crypto Rally Brings in $8 billion to Total Market

The prices of all leading cryptocurrencies were up Wednesday, with Bitcoin up 3 percent since Tuesday afternoon. MarketWatch reports the “broad-based crypto rally has added $8 billion to the total value of all cryptocurrencies over the past 24 hours.” Last year was a difficult year for Bitcoin and other digital money, with widespread reports of fraud and inconsistent support from major financial institutions. Altcoins, a bundle of significant cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin, also saw big gains Wednesday morning. Ether, one of the most significant players, was up 8.55 percent.

At 12:25 p.m. (ET), the APMEX Gold and Silver spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,287.70 Up $5.90
• Silver, $15.62 Up $0.06
• Platinum, $800.60 Up $2.00
• Palladium, $1,269.90 Down $0.30

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