Tag Archives: weekly gold prices

Mar 04

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – February 28-March 1, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,593.60
Weekly High: $1,615.80
Weekly Low: $1,567.40
Friday Close: $1,575.90

After last week’s abysmal returns for gold, this week started off faring a little better as short-term investors swooped up the advantages of the low price of gold over the weekend. Monday opened very near the $1,600 mark, rose a little above it early in the week, but ended lower again. There was also some global news that was positive for gold on Monday, including more gold purchases in Russia, a lowered debt status for the UK and a monetary easing program in Japan.

Tuesday was the best day for gold this year so far. The yellow metal enjoyed 2% gains after a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in which he further reinforced his support for the current quantitative easing programs. There had been talk in the past few weeks of rethinking the low interest rates and bond-buying programs, but his speech on Tuesday provided a much-needed sigh of relief for gold investors.

Right before gold spiked on Tuesday, Monday marked the day when Goldman Sachs predicted the end of gold’s 12 year winning streak. Mixed signals much? Predictions for gold are all over the place right now, as some gold bugs firmly believe gold is just experiencing a rough patch and will continue toward the $2,000 mark this year, while others are seeing a bleaker picture for the precious metal.

Another factor that had been contributing to gold’s rise early in the week was a gridlocked election in Italy that some suspected may cause financial unrest in the country. However, by Wednesday the situation had calmed down enough for those buyers to leave the gold market, causing a short drop in price. Profit-takers also dragged down the market as they collected wins from Tuesday.

Friday marked the first day of March, and reports came rolling in that showed gold in an unfavorable light. The last day of February marked the fifth straight month that gold has experienced monthly losses. Improved global economics are lessening strength in gold as a safe haven. The dollar was also stronger on Friday, pushing gold down even further.

Feb 25

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – February 18-22, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,614.10
Weekly High: $1,615.50
Weekly Low: $1,556.90
Friday Close: $1,580.50

Gold whisked by the $1,550 mark on Wednesday, dropping 2% for the week to hit a fresh eight and a half month low. This week did not bring good tidings for gold bugs, as the yellow metal proved an 11% decrease already this year. A few factors contributed to this decline, including the projected improvement of major world economies, and, most notably, concerns that the Fed will drop its monetary easing policy, which would have a disastrous effect on gold.

Monday started the week off slow, maintaining a pretty level $1,610. Tuesday continued at a fairly steady pace above the $1,600 mark, as the dollar index continued to stay low. The lack of investor activity during the beginning of the week was largely due to anticipation of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting.

Wednesday, the big news of the week struck as the Federal Reserve gave indication that they may change or halt their quantitative easing policies that have been a major source of gold’s soaring in the past three years. Gold has been volatile in the past year, and especially the last few months, recently because of expected improvements in the U.S. and European economies. Gold is seen as a hedge fund against failing currencies, however, the dollar has been strong recently, the European Union is on its way out of its sovereign debt crisis, and stock markets have been rallying worldwide, lessening safe haven interest in gold as investors stoke a riskier appetite.

So, on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee released news that because of improved economic conditions, they may rethink their massive asset-purchasing program that has been in place and that was renewed in December. Gold, accordingly, suffered a major drop to hit a fresh 50-day moving average that is below its 200-day moving average. This, according to popular price analysis lingo, is dubbed a “death cross” because it usually signals an acceleration of price declines.

However, a Dow Jones report on Wednesday also revealed that a historical analysis of gold shows an exception to the “death cross” rule for gold; gold prices tend to rebound in the weeks and months after the ominous-sounding death cross. Also, investors may have overreacted to the Fed’s minutes, since the meeting’s proposal was inconclusive, Bernanke is a clear supporter of quantitative easing and the conversation is set to continue in March.

Thursday saw some short term recovering and a slight rise in prices, but Friday closed the week on a seven-month low.

Feb 11

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – February 4-8, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,674.40
Weekly High: $1,683.70
Weekly Low: $1,666.90
Friday Close: $1,668.80

It was a very choppy week for gold that ended on a slightly lower note than it opened. Rife with economic news from China, the U.S. and the European Central Bank, gold did some flips this week and continued its streak of general volatility.

Monday was the quietest day of the week, with just a few outside factors sparking a bearish lull, including a higher dollar and lower crude oil.

Tuesday’s price shot straight up midday on news from China that their new gold flow into the country had risen 47% in 2012 to an all-time high. Central banks across the world have been buying gold for their reserves, so China’s continuation of this trend was a positive sign for the general price of gold. However, the price shot straight down again after positive economic news from the U.S. and the euro zone economy. The euro zone showed stability and growth in January, the best in 10 months, and a fiscal report was released from the U.S. that predicts the national budget to drop to $845 billion in 2013, a major shift from the trend of trillions-plus. These were both signs to gold investors to move into the equity market, causing a price shift downward.

Wednesday showed slight gains on technical trading and short covering, but it was also a fairly uneventful day as traders awaited the outcome of Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting.

Thursday proved as choppy as Tuesday, starting in the morning with Mario Draghi, ECB president, speaking on the improved state of the European economy, though still hinting at reservations for the euro. This sunk the euro, pushing gold up. Then, however, U.S. jobless claims reports came in and showed significant improvement in unemployment, the claims report falling 5,000 short of expectations. Gold dropped. Yet, the price of gold didn’t stay down long as bargain hunters entered the market to buy up stocks at the lower price.

Gold ended slightly lower on Friday on a higher dollar and a rise in U.S. equities.

Feb 04

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – January 28-February 1, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,654.50
Weekly High: $1,681.90
Weekly Low: $1,654.50
Friday Close: $1,667.90

It was a good week for gold after many U.S. economic reports and the Federal Reserve’s regular meeting concurred that the U.S. economy is not yet in a state of repair strong enough to push down gold. Following a bearish decline from last week, this week closed on a higher note than it opened.

Monday started off sluggish, a little flat on a relatively strong dollar. Most of Monday was spent in anticipation of news to come later in the week. Tuesday rallied a little bit as the dollar sunk slightly, and a Consumer Confidence report revealed worse than expected economic data – a 58.6 rating, well below the 64.0 expected mark.

Wednesday was the real day of growth for gold this week. The price of gold was bolstered by the Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting, in which Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated the low interest rates and bond-buying program that was set in motion at the end of last year. Concerns have arisen lately that the Fed might pull back on their quantitative easing should the economy show considerable improvement, but the U.S. GDP report released this week showed that the country’s economy had actually contracted 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2012. Bernanke confirmed that interest rates would remain negligible until unemployment hits 6.5%.

Unfortunately for gold, the yellow metal gave back all its gains on Thursday, despite bullish factors in the marketplace like a weak dollar and poor economic data. Though no one single external factor can be pinpointed for this loss, the drop was probably due to profit-taking from short-term traders.

Friday saw a continued release of negative U.S. economic data, which gave a small spike to the price of gold. The U.S. jobless claims report missed their mark by 38,000, ticking the unemployment rate up to 7.9%. However, later in the day a stronger manufacturing report was released, undoing many of the slight gains that had occurred earlier in the day.

Next week, gold is predicted to stay in the $1,650 to $1,700 range, with the European Central Bank meeting on traders’ radar.

Jan 28

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – January 21-25, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,690.00
Weekly High: $1,695.40
Weekly Low: $1,657.40
Friday Close: $1,659.20

Though lacking significant external selling pressures this week, gold nonetheless took a $30 loss to break the upward trend that was characteristic of the beginning of the year. The price drop can be generally attributed to global economic improvements that are projected to continue throughout 2013, lessening interest in gold as a safe haven.

Monday opened slow and steady as trading was quiet for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Tuesday was also fairly steady, despite bullish news for gold from Japan. The Bank of Japan announced a quantitative easing program that would raise its inflation aim from 1% to 2%. Amidst this news, the U.S. dollar fell against the yen by 1.2%, but this didn’t make much impact on gold.

Wednesday’s global economic reports caused a drop in gold. The European Union reported positive growth for January, and a Reuters poll projects overall world economic growth based on a recovering Asian economy. With major industrialized countries showing economic recovery, gold hasn’t necessarily lost its sheen, but it may be downplayed as a safe haven investment in the coming weeks. Citibank downgraded its projection for gold on Monday by 4.2% to $1,653 per ounce for 2014.

Thursday dropped gold back to a mid-December trading range, 13% below the highest the yellow metal ever reached in 2011 – $1,923 per ounce. Thursday’s decline may just be a continuation of the previous days positive global economic growth reports. Friday continued to descend to end the week with a two-week low.

However, all expectations for gold are not lost; they seem to just be paused.  While most analysts expect to see slow movement for gold in the next few weeks, ScotiaMocatta, a global trading company, highlights the big picture by saying in a report, “The financial system is drowning in debt and there seems no end in sight to ongoing massive budget deficits.  Confidence in the financial system and in the fiat government paper that facilitates it will remain low.” Next week, the FOMC will meet again, but no monetary policy change is expected.

Jan 21

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – January 14-18, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,667.80
Weekly High: $1,694.10
Weekly Low: $1,667.80
Friday Close: $1,684.30

It was a good week for gold. After continued hums in the marketplace questioning gold’s volatility, January is proving to be a bull month for this yellow metal. Gold gained 1.6% this week, its highest move since November 2012. This follows last week’s 0.3% gain, which ended a six-week long losing spree. Speculation still abounds about gold’s true winning capacity, but so far, the market is showing slow but steady gains.

Monday opened with the low of the week and shot steadily upwards through Tuesday. On Tuesday morning, news broke that platinum was trading higher than gold, a rare phenomenon that last occurred March 2012. Platinum hit $1,702 while gold stayed around $1,682. Platinum rose largely due to the halting of some major mines, increasing desire for the metal. Gold responded little on Tuesday, but as platinum hit its seventh bullish day on Wednesday, gold did take a little drop.

Thursday’s drastic price fall can be attributed to the U.S. weekly jobless claims report, which was significantly better than expected. However, gold quickly rebounded a little while later in the day after U.S. manufacturing data revealed unexpected contraction.

Though the fiscal cliff crisis has passed, Credit Suisse analyst Tom Kendall pinpoints the U.S. debt ceiling as a major factor for gold. He assesses the situation as being positive for gold, since the U.S. faces downgrades from credit agencies, and thus a stronger investment in hedge funds. It will also get people thinking about the long-term value of the dollar, which will most likely turn out to be bullish for gold. The debt ceiling debate is on the horizon for the end of February.

Friday consolidated the week’s gains to end on a high note. Amid the trading activity this week, a few major investment companies added further speculative projections for gold in 2013. The projections vary drastically, as Goldman Sachs downgraded its 2013 gold prediction to $1,200, while successful gold producer Iamgold upgraded its projections to $2,500. Falling smack dab in the middle, metals consultancy firm GFMS predicted a bullish year for gold, anticipating $1,900 in the first two quarters. This firm cites strong demand from central governments and increased buying from India and China as factors for growth.

Despite hesitation in the market, the overall sentiment still maintains a positive light. Analysts at UBS, a Canadian financial firm, summed up Friday’s gains by stating, “The physical market is off to a good start this year, with many indicators so far pointing to a positive demand story.”

Jan 11

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – January 7-11, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,658.90
Weekly High: $1,678.90
Weekly Low: $1,646.10
Friday Close: $1,660.30

Gold’s begun the year on a volatile sprint toward an uncertain future. Just barely adding one more notch on a twelve year upward trend at the end of 2012, the precious metal spent this week gaining and losing momentum by turns. After the Federal Reserve’s hints at lessening quantitative easing last week, the market has been shifty, though no real news has broken. The change in the price of gold from the week’s beginning to end is negligible, hovering around $1,660.

Monday opened the markets to hit the week’s low after traders were still processing the Fed’s minute’s from last week. The $1,645 level gold hit is the lowest since mid-August 2012, and it continues a six-week downturn. However, regarding the Fed’s foreshadowing, it’s not overly likely that the Fed will change its policy anytime soon. Some of the weightiest names in the Fed – ChairmanBen Bernanke, Vice Chair Janet Yellen and New York Fed President William Dudley – aim to retain the status quo. Furthermore, some of the world’s most prominent investment strategists, including PIMCO’s Bill Gross and DoubleLine Capital’s Jeffrey Gundlach, do not expect to see the Fed changing tactics in the near future.

Tuesday rebounded a little bit to eke its way over the $1,650 mark. Wednesday swayed up and down around that range, ending a little higher on a dipping dollar. There weren’t too many external circumstances to affect the price of gold this week, though traders are waiting to see what U.S. lawmakers will do next, and hinging on fresh economic data from China ahead of the Chinese New Year. Usually, the Chinese New Year is a great time for gold, but this year’s gains are uncertain.

Thursday saw a gold rally after the European Central Bank meeting, in which it was decided that low interest rates would remain unchanged. The Bank President related to his constituents a positive outlook for economic growth. The Bank of England will not expand its quantitative easing program.

From the nearly $1,680 high of Thursday, gold plummeted back down to Monday’s levels on Friday, largely due to fresh economic data from China. The Chinese consumer-price-index flew up 2.5%, ahead of economists’ expectations, indicating higher inflation. The fear for gold is that the Chinese government may enact cautionary measures against inflation, tightening economic policies.

The jury is still undecided on the future for gold, but only time will tell whether 2013 will prove to be the end of gold’s bullish journey or whether the yellow metal has just been getting over a slump toward even greater heights.

Jan 04

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – December 31, 2012-January 4, 2013

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Monday Open: $1,675.20
Weekly High: $1,689.50
Weekly Low: $1,628.00
Friday Close: $1,651.70

Gold ended 2012 with a 12 year hot streak. The past decade has treated gold very well, and this yellow metal has been the talk of the town amid a global recession. Seen by investors as a safe haven, gobbled up by governments as alternative currency and watched by many as an indicator of economic turmoil, gold has had a large role in global finances in the past ten years. Although gold closed this year nearly $300 below the all-time high of $1,900 from 2011, the price of gold is still at a remarkable high, and boasts a 6% increase from the price at the end of 2011.

The markets were silent Monday and Tuesday for the New Year holiday, but reopened with a bang on Wednesday. Starting the year off right, gold responded well to the announcement on Monday that U.S. policymakers had reached an agreement regarding the fiscal cliff. Wednesday saw this week’s high of around $1,690. The fiscal cliff agreement, which had worried investors and citizens alike, rallied a global spike in trading around the globe.

Thursday, however, gold started to dip after better-than-expected unemployment data for the U.S. was released. A firmer dollar also slipped gold down a little, as these factors lessen the strength of gold as a safe haven investment.

Friday also saw losses in the gold market as investors worriedly responded to the previous day’s Federal Reserve meeting, in which members expressed mixed ideas about keeping the loose monetary policy that had been in place all of 2012. After the prolonged fiscal cliff agreement (a decision wasn’t reached until after December 31st, the cutoff date) Federal Reserve members discussed shortening the length of time for the previously decided mortgage-backed securities and long-term Treasury bonds. Some believe the policies should last until the end of 2013, some think they should end before the year, and some think there even needs to be further measures implemented.

These loose monetary agreements keep interest rates low, which at once help the economy bolster back but also create conditions rife for inflation, a positive sign for the hedge fund gold. With stricter Fed policies, gold may not be seen as such a secure hedge fund. Friday saw prices drop to the lowest since August. Gold investors will be keeping a very close eye on the Fed’s moves.

Dec 29

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – December 24-28, 2012

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Monday Open: $1,660.40
Weekly High: $1,665.60
Weekly Low: $1,650.90
Friday Close: $1,656.30

The holiday week made for slow trading, and the gold price didn’t fluctuate very much from Monday to Friday – an uncommon phenomenon lately as gold prices have been extremely volatile. All the factors that make gold volatile are still at work, specifically the fiscal cliff, but somehow, the holidays just always seem to make people less jittery than usual. The fiscal cliff deadline has been moved to January 3rd, so we can expect to see more market movement next week. All markets have suffered volatility due to the economic indecision of U.S. leaders. Last week, gold prices fell drastically and now they’re hovering in the mid-$1,600s, about $100 less than the stability of the $1,750 range just a few weeks ago.

Monday, Christmas Eve, the gold market slumped only a little – traders were most likely away from their desks, spending time with family. Tuesday, Christmas Day, the markets were closed as traders enjoyed time off for the holiday.

Wednesday, as the market reopened and people started returning to the world of work, the price of gold took a little upward turn on a low dollar, but trading volume was still fairly thin as it’s natural to want to stretch a holiday as far as possible.

Thursday’s trading was still thin, and the low volume of trading continued through to the end of the week. Thursday and Friday both reacted slightly to continued news of the fiscal cliff, but until more steady news becomes available, the market is fairly numb to the looming decision. The House of Representatives will meet one more time on Sunday night to try and reach an agreement with President Obama. Some pundits expect the January 3rd deadline to be missed, but for politicians to reach some sort of agreement mid-January.

All in all, the price of gold only slipped a net total of $4 this week on thin holiday trading. It seems to have turned into a bear market for gold, and despite recommendations from organizations like Citigroup and Morgan Stanley to pull out of gold, over 80% of gold executives see the price of gold rising in 2013, according to the PwC Gold Price Report. Other notable analysts expect gold to shoot above $2,200.

Dec 14

Price of Gold Weekly Recap – December 10-14, 2012

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Monday Open: $1,711.90
Weekly High: $1,722.00
Weekly Low: $1,692.90
Friday Close: $1,696.30

The big news in gold trading this week was the two-day FOMC conference, economic reports for major world economies, and an automatic trading sell-off in Asian trading. The FOMC conference spiked prices on Wednesday, then sell-off sprees dropped the price for almost no reason on Thursday. Speculation abounds about whether gold has reached its limit as we head into 2013.

Monday was relatively quiet, and not much trading occurred after President Obama and House Speaker Boehner met face to face on Sunday to discuss the fiscal cliff crisis. Traders in all sectors are worried what will or won’t happen before the end of the year, and the fiscal cliff still tends to bring all commodities sectors down, but nothing new brought any light to the situation. The OECD released a report that projected that economies of the U.S., the U.K and China will grow over 2013, but that those of the European Union, Japan and Canada are expected to contract. If world economies are bouncing back, this could be a bearish factor for gold.

Yet, gold responded positively to the news from Tuesday and Wednesday’s FOMC meetings that the Federal Reserve plans to keep interest rates low for approximately the next three years, or until unemployment reaches 6.5%.  The meeting discussed the end of “Operation Twist,” and the beginning of a new bond-buying program, which will entail buying $45 billion of Treasury bonds. The price of gold rose almost $9 on Wednesday.

Yet, Thursday saw some unexpected drops from that high, as Asian trading enacted some automatic sell-stops, which forces selling once a price reaches a certain point. This same trend happened a few weeks ago, for no logical reason, adding an unpredictable factor to gold trading.

The European Union, meanwhile, reached an agreement to appoint a single bank supervisor and EU banking union, which will be a positive sign for their economic recovery. Friday stayed at the low end of the sell-off range to close the week slightly below $1,700.

Gold is undoubtedly a volatile investment at this point in time, and some predict bearish futures for gold, citing that the precious metal is nearing the end of its decade-long streak, but others retain that with the world’s biggest economies still in flux and in the midst of inflation, gold is still a safe hedge fund. Goldman Sachs predicted the end of the gold, while Morgan Stanley credited gold as the “best commodity for 2013.”