Stock Market Watch

Gold Prices Below $1,300, Silver Prices Mainly Flat

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Gold prices edged lower on Thursday struggling to hold above $1,300 an ounce level amid rising hopes that lawmakers will soon break the budget impasse, averting first ever U.S. debt default. Silver prices were flat in trading on Thursday.

On Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner will lead GOP leaders to meet President Obama. According to news reports, congressional leaders are likely to ink a stop-gap deal, under which the Treasury will be able to raise its borrowing limit from current $16.7 trillion. The short term increase on the borrowing limit will allow lawmakers to buy some more time for further negotiations.

At last check, gold futures for December delivery fell 0.80% to $1,296.70 an ounce while spot gold lost 0.73% to $1,297.01 an ounce.

The SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE: GLD) edged down 0.70% to $125.23.

Meanwhile the dollar index continued to rise after hitting its two-week high against a basket of rival currencies on Wednesday. While fading concerns over possible U.S. debt default boosted the dollar in last two sessions, the latest Federal Reserve’s minutes also lent support to the U.S. unit.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Fed’s minutes showed that most of the policymakers were not keen on extending the bond purchase program.

If the Fed starts to  taper its bond purchase program, interest rates will increase, which in turn put pressure on gold prices as the metal is a non-interest bearing asset. Furthermore, a stronger dollar due to favorable interest rates differentials will hurt the demand for dollar-dominated commodities such as gold.

The Fed is scheduled to hold its next open market committee meeting (FOMC) on Oct. 29-30.

Silver futures inched up 0.13% to $21.92 an ounce.

In late trading, the iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE: SLV) was up 0.14%, and the ProShares Ultra Silver (ETF) (NYSE: AGQ) was flat.








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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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