Gold and silver have been on the decline for a majority of this week thanks to a surging US Dollar. Today’s European Central Bank meeting yielded a somewhat surprising outcome in that Europe’s key lending rate was reduced by a quarter of one percent.

A continued run of strong economic data out of the US has many people convinced that Quantitative Easing may still be wound down before the year’s end. Though it must be said that only a day ago the president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve bank stated that he thinks the FOMC needs to wait a bit longer until the US economy shows more reliable signs of strength.

ECB Meeting and Outcome

The focus of investors for a majority of the week was this month’s European Central Bank meeting. This meeting is the European equivalent of the United States’ FOMC meeting, which took place only about a week ago. In the days before the meeting, there were two overriding beliefs as to what the outcome of the policy meeting would be. One side believed that the ECB would cut its key interest rate in an effort to spur more consistent and robust economic growth, while the other contingent believed firmly that the ECB would retain their current rates.

As you might have expected, many were shocked when the announcement was made that the ECB had slashed its key lending rate by .25% to a new rate of .25%. When the news first broke, gold and silver made initial gains, though the subsequently declining euro currency prompted the US Dollar to rise in value which in turn put downward pressure on precious metals.

This news also has caused people to believe that the FOMC now has more time to decide what they will do with Quantitative Easing. At this point however, there are still a fair amount of people who believe QE will be tapered before the year’s end.

Strong Economic Data

In addition to the somewhat surprising outcome of the ECB meeting, some upbeat economic data was released out of the US today. Third-quarter GDP, on an annualized basis, had risen by a better than expected 2.8% margin. This is in comparison to 2%-2.5% market expectations in the lead-up to the report. This also gave the US Dollar strength and was seen as adversarial to precious metals.

Tomorrow will yield October’s employment report, which will be yet another sign of the US economy’s strength.

The main piece of news on investors’ minds was the latest FOMC meeting, which took place this week from Tuesday morning until Wednesday afternoon. Though no changes were made to monetary policy in the US, the Fed’s post-meeting statement has been digested and has been deemed as a bearish factor for metals.

Also in the news this week was October’s employment report, of which was weaker than market expectations. Investors will continue to monitor the rising short-term interest rates in China, though this situation is mostly negligible so long as Chinese monetary policy does not change.

FOMC Meeting and Subsequent Speculation

Prior to early October’s government shutdown, the prevailing thought amongst investors was one which held firm to the belief that the Fed would reduce or in some way alter monetary policy before the end of this year. After the 16 day shutdown however, that sentiment changed drastically and saw most market experts in agreement regarding monetary policy, saying that it would not be until late in 2014′s first quarter or sometime in the second until we would see some sort of change to the Fed’s monthly bond-buying program, also known as Quantitative Easing.

Yesterday’s meeting was uneventful because QE was retained. With that being said, the Fed’s statement after the meeting worked to disprove the widely held current belief that tapering of QE would not even be considered until next year. Their statement indicated that while the US economy is not performing in a way which would merit the reduction of QE, it is nowhere near as weak as many people are suggesting. Compared to only a few months ago the US economy is doing better.

This simple statement led to a decline in the spot value of both gold and silver as now it is once more believed that QE has a chance to be tapered by the end of the year. This growing belief has proved to be adversarial to the spot prices of precious metals as gold is down over $20 and silver is down over $1 in the early going on Thursday.

Other US Economic Data to Digest

Apart from the FOMC meeting, investors also had plenty of US economic data to take into consideration. First up was October’s employment report, which came in weaker than market expectations. While it was expected that non-farm payrolls would increase by 150,000 in October, the actual figures indicated an increase of just 130,000; 20,000 short of what was expected. This news was bullish for precious metals, but since it was released more or less in conjunction with the FOMC meeting, it was counteracted by the Fed’s bearish statement.

According to marketwatch.com, jobless claims fell by about 10,000 this week. This, along with the rising value of the US Dollar are both preventing gold from making any gains and actually forcing losses upon both precious metals.

Gold and silver are on their way to finishing what has been a positive week in impressive fashion. Now that the US government shutdown is in the rear-view mirror, investors have begun to place their attention on other matters. After some of the delayed economic reports from the US started making their way to the public, it became instantly clear that the US economy was negatively impacted by the shutdown.

Now, investors are looking forward to the possible long-term impact that the shutdown will have on the US economy.

Delayed US Economic Reports Surfacing

The US government shutdown, which lasted over two weeks, essentially put the US economy on hold. With most government employees out of work, the economic data which investors rely so heavily upon simply wasn’t available. Now that the shutdown is over, however, many of these delayed reports are making their way into the news.

The first, and arguably most important, delayed report is that of September’s employment report. When it was released on Tuesday, it was already about 18 days late, and the figures in the employment report were not nearly up to the market’s expectations. While the market was anticipating an almost 200,000 increase in non-farm payrolls, the actual figure came in at 148,000. Despite this figure being weaker than what was expected, the overall unemployment rate in the US fell by one tenth of a percentage point to 7.2%. Nonetheless, investors began ditching their US currency and US stocks as it was clear the economy of the United States was not operating at the level which we witnessed only a few months ago.

As investors more readily abandon the declining Dollar and US stocks, precious metals are being seen as a great alternative. We will continue to monitor the news as more and more delayed reports are making their way out. To that end, however, it is becoming increasingly obvious that some reports are going to be foregone altogether due to the end of October approaching quickly and reports coming due.

For the next few months, it is expected that safe-haven demand for gold will be on the rise, though an ongoing interest rate crisis may change that slightly.

After two weeks of steady decline thanks to the government shutdown, gold and silver have finally see the spot price corrections that many people were anticipating now that budget and debt ceiling deals have been reached. Now comes the time where we find out whether Congress can formulate a long-lasting budget as well as whether or not they can raise the debt ceiling high enough to not have to argue about it for a while.

Gold and silver spot values are also being pushed forward by a US Dollar which has been declining fairly rapidly over the past few days.

What to Expect From Precious Metals Going Forward

After 16 straight days of partial shutdown, the US government finally opened for business on Thursday. In response, US and European stock markets declined in value a bit due to the temporary nature of the debt ceiling and budget resolutions. The last-minute agreement reached by Democrats and Republicans in Congress was formulated during the day on Wednesday and subsequently signed Wednesday night. While this is seen as a partial success story, the budget is only able to fund government operations until mid-Janury while the debt ceiling was only raised until early February. This all translates into the possibility of us facing another partial government shutdown in only a few month’s time.

The temporary nature of the agreements saw precious metals’ spot values move forward significantly, while investors expressed more wariness in regards to stocks and bonds.

As an increasing number of investors begin to understand that the deals that were so highly touted yesterday are really on temporary fixes. the more likely it is that we will see a rise in safe-haven demand for precious metals. Perhaps adding even more support to the thought that spot prices for gold and silver will soar over the next few months is the fact that the US government is going to see its 4th quarter growth diminished significantly as a direct result of the shutdown. How big those negative impacts will be is merely being speculated about now, though as the month of October comes to an end we will have a clearer image of just how the shutdown hurt the overall US economy.

Gold and silver opened Thursday down a bit as worries regarding US  military intervention in Syria have began to wind down. Though this has been the marquis news story of the week, tensions seem to be easing up in the latter part of the week.

Stocks which started the week losing significant value have begun to bounce back while crude oil prices, of which rose quite a bit this week, have also begun to balance out again. We will continue to monitor the situation in Syria as it stands the possibility to escalate at any given time in the near future. We have already heard some positive economic news out of Europe this week, but this news was short-lived as investor attention was quickly fixated elsewhere.

Looming Syrian Tensions

For Syria, a civil war has been raging for the past two years or so. While the world has chosen to ignore most of this civil war’s developments, more recent happenings have caught the attention of leaders of all nations around the world. A couple of months ago it was reported that the Syrian government had been using chemical weapons against its own citizens. This is shocking, but in the grand scheme of the Syrian civil war so many innocent people have been murdered that it really makes one wonder why nations like the US are just getting concerned now.

Regardless of why,the US and its allies were reported as preparing to strike Syria sometime in the near future. Despite citizens of the world calling for decreased military action in the Middle East, President Obama and a few others believe that military intervention is the only way to put a halt to the senseless killing of civilians. On Monday, the mood was one that insinuated the US would strike within a day or two, if not even sooner. Now that its Thursday, the sentiment has changed as the whole scenario seems to have calmed down a bit.

President Obama is unsure of what action to take, and the US’ allies are too. When it was thought that the US would intervene in Syria initially,safe-haven demand for gold and silver picked up dramatically, but now the situation has calmed down and because of that gold and silver are seeing corrective bounces today. All in all it is still looking like the week will be one of gains for both gold and silver, though only time will tell if this is actually the case.

Gold and silver have had an up and down last few days as final numbers are making it difficult to determine if this week is going to be one of gains or losses for both gold and silver. Thus far this week we have paid attention to two major news stories, one out of Asia and the other out of the United States.

With the Federal Reserve’s next meeting set to take place in September, this week marked when the meeting’s minutes were to be released. In addition to this news, an ongoing, and growing, Asian currency predicament is slowly but surely catching the world’s attention.

Asian Currency Crisis

Increasing interest rates in more developed countries of the world such as the US and Germany are causing investors to lose interest in lower to mid-level currencies. This growing disinterest has done a very good job of killing the value of many Asian currencies. The two most hardest hit currencies are the Indian Rupee and the Indonesian Rupiah. At about the same time as gold and silvers’ epic climb last week, these two currencies began depreciating rapidly before hitting all-time lows against the US Dollar.

When the story first broke it was overshadowed by the rising spot prices of gold and silver, though as the decline of the Rupee and Rupiah continued into this week, the story gained more attention. Now, Indian and Indonesian officials are doing everything they can to help alleviate the selling pressure their currencies are under, though up to this point nothing has worked. As the days move forward the two currencies remain in their subdued positions with no clear end to this decline in sight. We, and investors all over the world, will continue to monitor this situation in search of any further developments.

FOMC Minutes

It seems as though the Fed is in the news almost weekly, and as fate would have it, this week is no exception. This time around investors awaited the minutes from the Fed’s upcoming September meeting.

While the Fed’s meeting’s minutes are always something investors pay attention to, this time around they carried more weight as many had suspected that the text would reveal some news in regards to the future of monetary policy in the United States. Unfortunately, however, the minutes proved to be nothing short of a disappointment as they offered no clear information regarding QE’s future.

Instead, there is a growing sense of uneasiness as the Fed seems incapable of reaching a consensus agreement on anything. Now investors will have to wait for September’s meeting, a meeting that will hopefully shed some light on what the future has in store for QE, if anything at all.

Gold and silver have made some solid gains during the early hours of Thursday despite the first half of the week delivering multiple blows to both precious metals. This week has thus far been marked by better economic news out of Europe and contradictory statements from the US Federal Reserve.

A better Purchasing Manager’s Index reading, industrial report, and increased orders for manufactured goods were three pieces of data which shined a much brighter light on the European economy. Unfortunately for precious metals, however, a better-performing European economy means stronger selling pressure. This selling pressure translated into three consecutive days of losses for both gold and silver, though those losses were quickly transformed into gains during the first half of Thursday.

Increased Demand

After the first three days of the week brought the spot value of gold below $1,300 and the spot value of silver below $20, both metals saw a corrective bounce on Thursday. The corrective bounce restored both metals above the thresholds at which they were at before the week started, that means over $1,300 for gold and over $20 for silver.

Coupled with a precious metals corrective bounce was a weaker US Dollar Index, something that is almost always beneficial to precious metals spot prices. Now, investors will wait it out and see if metals will continue their ascent to bring the week to a profitable conclusion.

Chinese Economic Data

The Chinese data which was released after Wednesday markets closed and before Thursday market opened in the US came back as positive for both the Chinese economy and raw commodities.

Despite June’s year to year comparison regarding exports being down 3.1%, July was able to turn things around. From this point last July, Chinese exports are up by over 5% while imports have improved by roughly 11%. These numbers were shocking to market experts, especially after China is coming off a month that was as economically dismal as last June was.

Investors will be hoping that a slow and quiet last day of the week will help gold and silver hang on and maybe even build upon the gains they made today.

Gold and silver began the day on Thursday posting healthy gains after the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee’s prepared statement. Despite some better than expected economic news out of the US, which brought the spot value of gold and silver down initially, both metals were able to regain their losses and then some in the overnight and early morning hours on Thursday.

While Thursday is not expected to bring with it any major economic news stories, investors and market watchers will be looking ahead to Friday for the FOMC’s meeting to actually take place in addition to the release of the latest US jobs report.

Job Report’s High Expectations

Tomorrow’s marquis news story is the latest US jobs report which is already being touted as good news. As of now, expectations are that non-farm payrolls jumped up by around 175,000 which would then cause the overall unemployment rate to fall from 7.6% to 7.5%. While a one-tenth decline in the unemployment rate may not seem like much, it is a great sign that the US economy is doing much better than it was even a year ago.

Despite the better than expected economic news that we saw on Wednesday, which included a positive GDP for the second quarter, gold and silver values did not fall by much and were actually able to make gains in response to the Fed’s prepared statement being released yesterday.

Fed Release Statement, Meeting to Come

For a large part of the day on Wednesday, gold and silver were posting modest losses in response to the better than expected economic data that was discussed above. Later in the day, however, the FOMC’s prepared text from their upcoming meeting was released and was well-received by precious metals investors.

The text itself more or less reiterated what Ben Bernanke had to say a few weeks ago. Stated in the text was the fact that the government’s $80 billion+ monthly bond-buying initiative, Quantitative Easing, is not on course to be wound down by the end of 2013. Rather, it was made clear that monetary policy in the United States will remain as accommodating as it has been for the foreseeable future. To put it simply, there are too many worries in regards to inflation being to low and rising mortgage rates for the Fed to take an ax to QE just yet. While they are not counting an end to QE in the next 12 months out, they are by no means expressing an urge to do away with it as quickly as some people were initially hoping or even expecting.

This is a very safe approach being taken by the Fed. Overall, the prepared text gave gold and silver a boost in the early morning hours of Thursday.

Gold and silver both experienced some minor gains in the first half of Thursday thanks to a lower US Dollar Index. This week, thus far, has been one of few news stories which means that apart from the US Dollar there are few catalysts for major changes in the spot values of metals.

Yesterday we heard some mixed Purchasing Manager’s Index reports from China and the EU, one suggesting that economic contraction is a thing of the past while the other suggested that the given economy may have to deal with economic contraction for some time to come. As investors and their families are gearing up for their summer vacations towards the end of July and beginning of August, the world marketplace is likely going to be a lot more quiet than it had been recently.

China and European PMI Reports

Yesterday was a quiet day for the most part, but two Purchacing Manager’s Indexes caught the eyes and ears of investors everywhere. First up was the EU PMI report which actually indicated that for the first time in over a year and a half the European economy may no longer be feeling the effects of contraction. This was great news for Europe because the continent as a whole has simply been sputtering along as of late.

China’s PMI report, on the other hand, came back weaker than expected for June and indicated that the world’s second largest economy may be gearing up for some unwanted economic contraction. It is impossible to say, at this point, whether the Chinese economy will retain its position as second strongest in the world, though all signs are pointing at them falling off quite a bit towards the end of 2013.

Other World News

The US Dollar Index is the main thing that investors are going to be watching for the rest of the week. On Monday the US Dollar Index was down which gave gold and silver the room they needed to make some substantial moves forward. The next two days saw the USD Index pick up a little bit of value while today, Thursday, sees it back down again.

Whenever the US Dollar Index is down gold and silver almost always gain in value, and it is for this reason that investors will keep a keen eye on how it is doing. World stocks, for the most part, were also weaker in the beginning stages of Thursday, something that also helped precious metals out a bit.

After Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke to the US House of Representatives and little to no change was realized by precious metals because of it, folks were hoping that Thursday would be different. Thursday kicks off round two of Bernanke’s speaking in front of Congress as he is set to greet the Senate.

Whenever Bernanke, or anyone else from the Fed for that matter, speaks to any group of people investors and market watchers tune in to see what he has to say. Since we are currently in a position where the future of US monetary policy is in question, paying attention to what Mr. Bernanke has to say becomes that much more important.

Bernanke to Address the Senate

Yesterday Bernanke addressed the House, and what he said ended up having very little impact on the spot values of gold and silver. His prepared remarks which were released in the morning initially boosted the outlook on gold and silver, but his post-speech Q&A session ended up bringing metals back down to earth.

It is unlikely that Bernanke’s remarks will change drastically from one day to the next and many are expecting his talking points to be very similar to what they were yesterday. Yesterday Bernanke stated that monetary policy will remain flexible as long as him and other members of the Fed see fit. He went on to strike down any rumors that say Quantitative Easing will be done away with by a certain date. According to him there is no preset timetable for QE’s end or alteration. In fact, he said that if the US economy were to take a dive in the coming months, the Fed is even open to boosting QE, a point that shocked quite a few people.

Other World News

Though it should come as no surprise, the majority of the world has been and will continue to be paying attention to what Ben Bernanke has to say. After yesterday’s speech and remarks Asian stocks made gains while European stocks saw mixed results.

European trading has not caught anyone’s attention lately as the trading atmosphere across the region has been relatively subdued. While this is happening, the economic situation throughout Europe continues to deteriorate in front of our eyes.

With spot values remaining as low as they are, it is still a great time for people to buy silver and gold. Even though bargain-hunters have not been seen as much lately, the bargains are still there to be had.