Gold ended this week much lower and has been falling for two weeks. In fact, the yellow metal fell almost $70 since peaking at $2006 two Fridays ago. This was due to comments from the various Fed officials, including Chairman Powell, that sounded more hawkish in their battle with inflation. Easing concern on WWIII breaking out because of the Israel-Hamas war also took some of the war premium out of the gold price.
Gold ended the week at $1938.38, down $20 on the day. Silver dropped 38 cents today to end the week at $22.25. It was a miserable week for the precious metals markets.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was up marginally this week and the dollar index also strengthened making non-yielding gold less attractive for investors. However, the over riding drivers of gold this past week were Fed official comments being more hawkish and easing tensions in the middle east.
“Gold will continue to trade sideways to lower in the near term unless we see an escalation in geopolitical events, weak U.S. economic report or if the Fed suggests it is done raising rates,” said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals.
The falling price this week was a nice gift to all of those who celebrate the Indian festival of Diwali when it is auspicious to purchase physical gold or silver and make offerings to the goddess Lakshmi to bring fortune and prosperity in the coming year. Nov 10 was the most auspicious day to purchase gold for many Hindus, Jains, and other Indian religions.
The week ahead:
Sat: Fed Bostic Speech
Mon: Fed Cook Speech
Mon: Consumer Inflation expectations
Tues: Inflation rate - Oct
Wed: PPI - Oct
Wed: Retail Sales
Wed: Fed Barr Speech
Thu: Six Fed officials speeches
Thu: Initial and continuing Jobless claims
Fri: Building permits
Dan Barrett is the Chairman of Pacific Precious Metals and the Founder of the Aureus Point-of-Sale system, a software platform made for bullion and coin dealers. He has been investing in physical gold and silver for over 15 years. His prior experience includes being an Analyst for a variety of Banks and Hedge Funds.
For More Information visit Pacific Precious Metals