Precious metals are seeming to extend yesterday’s losses as of the early morning hours of Thursday, but with a healthy batch of economic data on the way today, there is no saying where spot values will wind up. This week began in upbeat fashion for metals, and even at this point a day ago, both gold and silver were continuing to add value. Unfortunately, by day’s end on Wednesday, those gains had turned to losses and those losses are currently being intensified this morning.
All in all, this week has not been overly exciting, but there have been a few key factors that have caught the attention of the wider marketplace. Among these factors are comments from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi as well as the release of the minutes from the FOMC’s October 28th/29th meeting.
Draghi, while speaking to the media, reiterated that quantitative easing measures (ie the purchase of government bonds aimed at stimulating the economy) are still not out of the question. In fact, most investors interpreted Draghi’s remarks as meaning that the ECB is on the verge of changing monetary policy even further. With a fresh policy meeting little more than a week away, I anticipate that the market will be paying it their undivided attention.
The release of the FOMC minutes are always eventful occurrences, but this time was a bit different as no new developments with regard to interest rate hikes in the US emerged as result of yesterday’s minutes release. In all, the minutes really didn’t have much of an impact on the marketplace at all.
Investors Look Ahead to Busy Day of Economic Data
Despite the fact that this week and much of last week was devoid of any noteworthy economic data, today will be a bit different. The US is set to release data points relating to existing home sales, consumer prices, and manufacturing. As has been the case for some time now, investors will be picking apart today’s data in an effort to determine whether this batch of reports will convince the Fed interest rates should be risen sooner rather than later or if it will spur them to continue being cautious with regard to any policy shifts.
Also important will be the release of the weekly jobless claims. In case you missed it, last week’s weekly jobless claims report came back with a far greater number of filings than expected. This was a none too comforting follow-up to October’s incredibly weak non-farms data.
In addition to the forthcoming economic data from the United States, investors are also in the midst of mulling over and analyzing poor manufacturing reports from China and Europe as well as a dismal PMI reading from Japan. All today’s data really tells us is that massive global economic in Europe and Asia are continuing to struggle as they have for much of 2014 already.