Gold and Silver Fall as EU Issues Financial Report Cards

by Andrew Burger | May 30, 2012 12:06 pm

Gold Silver GLD IAU SLV[1]Gold 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[2]. 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[3] 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[4] 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[5]” on the performance of eurozone economies and public finance.

Add Belgium[6] 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[7] 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.

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

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

Silver-mining shares were also continuing their slide.

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.

Endnotes:

  1. [Image]: https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/PreciousMetalsRecap.gif
  2. Kitco market data: http://www.kitco.com/market/
  3. pending home sales index fell: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-30/pending-sales-of-u-s-existing-homes-decline-by-most-in-a-year.html
  4. economic strategy: http://news.yahoo.com/spain-focus-eu-readies-euro-zone-economic-strategy-230903161--sector.html;_ylt=AgSLq4sI80JEzn_FtUyA9mmw73QA;_ylu=X3oDMTRvdDFmM2I4BGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwM4MmE3MTA5My1iMzM5LTNiZDQtYTI3OC0xZDhiZjY5OWI2NTYEcG9zAzUEc2VjA25ld3NfZm9yX3lvdQR2ZXIDNzUwODE1YzAtYTllMy0xMWUxLTlkZmUtNzk5MmViMmVlMzg1;_ylg=X3oDMTNsNWszbm1vBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDMjhmNjQ4YjYtMGQ1Yi0zNThlLThhZmQtYjg4YzUwNGU5ZDY0BHBzdGNhdANQb2xpdGljc3xQb2xpdGljcyUyRlRoZSUyNTIwQ291cnRzBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=3
  5. report cards: http://news.yahoo.com/eurozone-braced-eu-economic-report-cards-034358332.html
  6. Belgium: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120530-709737.html
  7. hitting one-week lows: http://goldnews.bullionvault.com/gold-price-053020124
  8. GLD: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GLD
  9. IAU: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=IAU
  10. SLV: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=SLV
  11. GDX: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GDX
  12. GDXJ: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GDXJ
  13. SIL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=SIL
  14. AEM: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AEM
  15. ABX: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=ABX
  16. EGO: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=EGO
  17. GG: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GG
  18. KGC: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=KGC
  19. NEM: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=NEM
  20. NG: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=NG
  21. AUY: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AUY
  22. CDE: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=CDE
  23. HL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=HL
  24. PAAS: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=PAAS
  25. SLW: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=SLW
  26. SSRI: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=SSRI

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