Gold and Silver Fall as EU Issues Financial Report Cards

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Gold Silver GLD IAU SLVGold and silver continued to move downward as eurozone concerns keep mounting and as April U.S. pending home sales dropped the most in a year.

Spot gold was down 0.41%, bid at 1,548.50 an ounce as of 11:07 a.m. Prices reached as high as $1,551.20 and dropped as low as $1,530.10, according to Kitco market data. The London afternoon reference price was set at $1,540, $39.50 an ounce below Tuesday’s afternoon reference price.

Spot silver was showing a 0.86% loss, bid below $28 at $27.64 an ounce. The morning high as of time of writing fell below $28 to $27.87, with the low reaching $27.32. Wednesday’s reference price was set at $27.68, 57 cents an ounce below Tuesday’s price fix.

The National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index fell 5.5% in April, following a downwardly revised 3.8% March increase. Economists expected an unchanged reading.

The European Commission is to lay out its economic strategy for the troubled eurozone today. Expectations are for an increased emphasis, and public measures, to promote economic and jobs growth, as well as allowing individual members nations more flexibility in meeting fiscal rules and guidelines regarding government budget deficits and debt. The new strategy comes as the EC is also announcing “report cards” on the performance of eurozone economies and public finance.

Add Belgium to the list of eurozone members — Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain– having difficulty meeting more stringently enforced debt targets, which now include the assessment of penalties for failure to meet them.

Gold bullion continued to fall in Asian and London trading Wednesday, hitting one-week lows below $1,550 an ounce, BullionVault reported.

“The yellow metal triggered some major stops as it moved down below $1,570 and back below the trend line,” BullionVault quoted Swiss refiner and finance group MKS’s daily research note. “‘On [Tuesday’s] move down, traders saw somewhat 856,000 ounces being exchanged’ in U.S. gold futures.”

Gold and silver trusts continued their losing ways.

  • The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was showing losses of around 0.35%.
  • The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was down around 0.2%.
  • The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was down more than 0.6%.

Gold- and silver-mining ETFs were moving lower as well.

  • The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was showing losses of around 0.5%.
  • The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was down around 2%.
  • The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was down some 0.3%.

Gold-mining shares were showing losses across the board, with the exception of Barrick Gold, which was breaking ranks and moving higher.

  • Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) was down between 2% and 2.3%.
  • Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) was up more than 0.6%.
  • Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) was around 3.8% lower.
  • Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was nearly 4% lower.
  • Kinross Gold Corp. USA (NYSE:KGC) was down around 1.1%.
  • Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was showing losses of around 0.6%.
  • NovaGold Resources (NYSEAMEX:NG) was down around 1.9%.
  • Yamana Gold (USA) (NYSE:AUY) was down some 0.55%.

Silver-mining shares were also continuing their slide.

  • Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) was down around 0.3%.
  • Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was some 1.55% lower.
  • Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) was showing losses of around 0.2%.
  • Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) was down around 2.1%.
  • Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) was some 1.4% lower.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault contributed to this report.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2012/05/gold-and-silver-fall-as-eu-issues-financial-report-cards/.

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