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July 17th Silver Market Update

Precious metals are seeing significant gains through the first half of the day on Thursday, mostly thanks to an increase in safe-haven demand. Up until today, this week was generally pretty quiet and lacking any major markets-moving news. While Federal Reserve chairperson Janet Yellen made two semi-annual addresses to Congress over the last two days, her remarks were quickly overshadowed by some unforeseen events today.

Malaysia Airlines Flight Reportedly Shot Down Over Ukraine

Up until little more than an hour ago, risk-appetite in the US and across the world was seen rising steadily in the wake of remarks made by Janet Yellen, chair of the US Federal Reserve. Now, safe-haven demand has more or less taken control of the day after it was reported that a Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down over Eastern Ukraine. Preliminary reports from high-ranking Ukrainian government officials are saying that surface-to-air missiles were responsible for the downing of a flight that originated in Amsterdam and was headed for Kuala Lumpur.

While no one is quite sure who or what brought the plane down, many people are looking towards either Russia or pro-Russian separatists as the culprits. With tensions in the region already at all-time highs, this event only stands the chance of making things worse. It must be said, however, that there have been no confirmed reports of missiles being shot, only the words of Ukrainian officials and news agencies. This tragedy marks the second loss of a Malaysia Airlines flight in only a matter of a few months. All told, 295 lives were lost during the tragedy.

While the downed plane in Ukraine is taking up a lot of the headlines, there is also a lot of attention being paid to the continuous escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas. Now, as Israeli forces contemplate a ground invasion of Gaza, the market is really beginning to pay close attention.

As we head into the final day and a half of the week, what was once looking like an awful 5-day trading session for precious metals is now becoming one that may only play host to minor losses. As it stands, gold is now safely above the key $1,300 threshold while silver has once again crossed over $21/ounce. It will be interesting to see if safe-haven demand and continued bargain-hunting will keep these prices locked in and climbing, or if risk-appetite will once again pick up. While this may be a bit preliminary, tomorrow is shaping up to be an exciting last day of what would have otherwise been a fairly lackluster trading week.