Stock Market Watch

Gold Prices Settle Higher

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Gold prices rose sharply on Tuesday, tracking the equity markets. Gold and equities rose on Tuesday on optimism about the global economy and a strong start to the U.S. corporate earnings season.

Gold also crossed its 200-day moving average on Tuesday. The precious metal had fallen below the level in mid-December. Gold prices are now up nearly 5% this year.


Silver prices also rallied on Tuesday and platinum surged as well after Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) reported better than expected revenue for its fourth quarter. The aluminum producer also gave a bullish outlook for global aluminum demand this year, which lifted investors’ sentiment.

Rick Bensignor, Chief Market Strategist at Merlin Securities, told Reuters that it is not so much investors are buying gold because the world is falling part, it is just another place for people to make money.

At last check, spot gold was up 1.3% to $1,631.10 an ounce. Earlier in the day, spot gold rose to a high of $1,639.80. Gold futures for delivery in February on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $23.40 to settle at $1,631.50 an ounce.

According to Comex gold options floor traders, investors were busy selling put options and buying calls, which is a typical bullish play on a day when futures surge.

Bill O’Neill, Partner at Commodities Investment Firm LOGIC Advisors, told Reuters that as we enter the New Year, there is more optimism surrounding Europe and in general economic data has been strong, making people thing that we could potentially see that inflationary pressure develop.

Lately, gold has also appeared to break ranks with the euro. Macquarie analyst Hayden Atkins told Reuters today that he expects weaker dollar, stronger gold relationship to drive the market for the year. Atkins said that a big part of the weakness into the end of last year people taking profits and liquidity being a bit lower and that is expected to unwind.

Commerzbank said in a research note today that the market is still in the grip of the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone, with auctions of Spanish and Italian government bonds due at the end of the week. Commerzbank further said that it is questionable whether the entire planned volume can be placed on the market and gold should be well supported against this backdrop.

Spot silver rose as much as 3% to $29.86 an ounce on Tuesday. Analysts believe that the price potential for silver appears better than gold.

Merlin Securities’ Bensignor told Reuters that silver is well away from its 200-day moving average while gold is at it and so if the metals are going to move, silver has more room to go before it is going to hit resistance.

Gold and silver ETFs also rose sharply on Tuesday. The SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE: GLD) ended the day 1.37% higher at $158.64, the Market Vectors ETF Trust (NYSE: GDX) ended the day 1.51% higher at $54.51, and the iShares Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE: IAU) ended the day 1.47% higher at $15.92.

Meanwhile, the iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE: SLV) ended the day 3.23% higher at $29.05, and the ProShares Ultra Silver (ETF) (NYSE: AGQ) ended the day 6.45% higher at $48.36.

The ProShares UltraShort Silver (ETF) (NYSE: ZSL), which takes a short position on silver, ended the day 6.64% lower at $13.50.

In other precious metals, spot platinum rose 2.7% to $1,460.74 an ounce on Tuesday, while spot palladium rose 2.7% to $629.80 an ounce on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, platinum rose to $1,467.50 an ounce, a one-month high for the metal.

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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