Precious metals are holding mostly steady to slightly lower to begin the first full week of trading in November. Though we are not seeing much movement by spot values this morning, I highly doubt that such will remain the case as the rest of the week plays out simply because of the number of economic happenings that will be taking place.

In case you missed it, the latter part of last week played host to a number of economic happenings and data points that almost all worked against gold and silver. First, it was a more hawkish FOMC post-meeting statement that worked against both the near and long-term outlook on gold and silver. Then, only a day later, it was record-breaking 3rd-quarter GDP report and upbeat unemployment data that put even more pressure on gold and silver. Now, with safe-haven demand almost nonexistent, it will be interesting to see what the week has in store for metals.

Chinese PMI Puts More Pressure on Gold and Silver

This week got off to a slow start, there is no denying that, but in the early morning hours of Monday the latest Chinese Purchasing Manager’s Index reading was made public. Unfortunately, the data came back a bit weaker than expected as October’s reading came back beneath 51, at 50.8. This reading was more or less in line with expectations, but was down from September’s PMI reading of 51.1. This data hurt most Asian equity markets and was an underlying bearish factor for raw commodities, including gold and silver.

The EU’s October PMI reading was also published early this morning, but it was more or less in line with expectations and did not have much of an impact on equity markets nor the Euro currency. Now, the attention of the marketplace shifts to Thursday when the European Central Bank is expected to meet for their most recent policy meeting.

In addition to the ECB meeting, investors from around the world are going to be paying close attention to Friday’s October employment data. Unfortunately for gold and silver, preliminary expectations are that this week will add even more selling pressure to already existing selling pressure.