It’s like the precious metals markets went on vacation and never came back, with prices for gold and silver almost exactly where they were the previous morning.
Gold is down $2.32 to $1,690.32 and silver is off $0.12 to $32.08, for a silver/gold ratio of 52.6.
It’s almost sad to point out that if the silver/gold ratio goes any lower, silver will be flashing a sell signal. It’s sad because I was really having fun shopping for silver this summer; there were some great deals out there. I expected prices to recover, just not this soon.
It’s kind of a downer morning for commodities across the board, with gold and silver being joined on the downside by crude oil, platinum, palladium and copper. While most commodities were trading lower, it wasn’t by much.
The drop in commodity prices was triggered by the dollar gaining back some ground against the euro as currency traders wait for the stimulus plan from the Federal Reserve.
On the other side of the Atlantic, European stock markets were flat to slightly down and the tepid climate seems to be poised to infect U.S. markets as well.
It’s odd to be becalmed in lackluster markets at a time there is so much news that should be moving them higher. The long-term unemployment rate in the U.S. dropped by 1.5 million in the latest survey and corporate profits exceeded estimates in 71 percent of companies listed in the S&P 500. Maybe people are so used to being in a bad mood they missed the sun peeking through the economic clouds. Certainly the recovery has a long way to go, but there are signs of progress.
When it comes to gold and silver, we’re in a kind of an odd place with prices too high to spur buying and too low to trigger selling. If you have cash burning a hole in your pocket and you plan on holding your precious metals purchases for a time frame measured in decades, then $100 an ounce price difference in gold or $5 an ounce difference for silver is not that significant.
As with all your precious metals purchases, remember to mark the price per ounce, including shipping, on the package so you know the reference price when it comes time to sell.