Stock Market Watch

Gold Prices Climbs as Shutdown Concerns Sink-In; Silver Prices Also Rally

by ·


Gold Prices pared most of previous session’s losses to break above $1,300 an ounce level mark on Wednesday as market participants’ anxiety rose with the shutdown extending for the second day with no signs of immediate breakthrough in Washington. Silver prices also rallied in trading on Wednesday.

At last check, gold futures for December delivery climbed 2.65% to $1,320.20 an ounce while spot gold jumped 2.54% to $1,318.61 an ounce.

The SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE: GLD) was last up 2.16% to $127.28.

Investors are now worried whether the lawmakers be able to break the logjam over the debt-ceiling issue before the mid-Oct deadline. A failure to reach an agreement (raising treasury’s borrowing limit) could even result in potential sovereign debt default.

Typically, gold prices tend to gain during the times of macroeconomic uncertainty; however, the fear that the U.S. economy could come to a standstill if the stalemate continues, capped the metal’s gains. Investors may prefer to liquidate gold as possible slowdown in the economy will prompt investors to hold cash.

“Gold was expected to get stronger support from the U.S. political shutdown … it is gaining some ground today (however) it is still at risk of further liquidation,”  said Robin Bhar, an analyst at Societe Generale, according to Reuters.

On Tuesday, the metal had plunged more than 3% due to large-scale liquidations.

A weaker-than-expected labor market data also supported gold prices. The ADP’s private sector job report showed that the U.S. economy added 166,000 new payrolls in September, which was below economists’ forecast of 180,000. A weakness in the job market might prompt the Federal Reserve to extend its gold-supportive bond purchase program. The Fed’s ongoing economic stimulating measures are explicitly tied to an improvement in the labor market.

Silver futures leaped 3.38% to $21.89 an ounce.

In late trading, the iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE: SLV) was up 2.74% to $20.97, and the ProShares Ultra Silver (ETF) (NYSE: AGQ) was up 5.60% to $20.18.








More Posts by this author

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.

Tags:

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.

You may also like...