In The Lead – The Goldfather
After having touched a 2012 high just $7 shy of $1,800 the ounce, gold prices drifted for a third session this week on Wednesday. The yellow metal was unable to make headway much above the $1,780 mark and sister silver did not manage to penetrate above the $35 level. That said, the gold/silver duo held up relatively well, especially given the steep losses incurred in crude oil and the US dollar’s advance to near the pivotal 80.00 figure on the trade-weighted index. The latter gained against the euro and the yen after US economic metrics related to the ADP payrolls report and to the ISM services sector reading came in at better levels than had been expected. More on those numbers, later.
Not much movement was noted in the euro (still near $1.29) or the Dow (up 12 points and just shy of 13,500) either. Markets are apparently bereft of impactful fresh drivers and are drifting in the post-QE3 environment. Fear not; the next 90 days still hold plenty of potential fodder for volatility and for potentially out-sized moves in various assets. Friday’s September jobs report might be the first such opportunity for speculator albeit the one thing they can no longer look hopefully towards is QE3 as it is already baked into this market cake.
