Precious metals have not played part in too much price action today, but what little movement was recorded was mostly downward. With some growing risk-appetite amongst investors, it is no surprise that safe-haven precious metals are more readily being overlooked by investors. Despite today offering little in the way of important or markets-moving economic data, the next few days are expected to be fairly busy.

The violence in Israel and Ukraine is continuing today, but the marketplace is not nearly as on edge as it was last week and the week before it. While these events are slowly but surely making their way to the back-burner of the marketplace’s attention, it is clear that they will not be going away anytime soon.

Busy Week of US Economic Data

For investors from the United States, the last few months have been a constant battle to find out as much information as possible about the possibility of interest rates being raised within a year. Though it has not been confirmed that interest rates will soon be increased, that notion is growing by the day and has a multitude of investors convinced that the Fed is going to act sometime soon. For precious metals, raised interest rates would more than likely be adversarial due to the fact that higher interest rates translates into more interest in interest-paying assets, and not safe-haven gold and silver. While the Fed, not too long ago, was quoted as saying that current interest rates will remain intact for as long as necessary, many investors are interpreting the United States’ current economic progress as meaning that rates are soon to be raised.

It is this ongoing search for more information regarding interest rates that is driving the market to become so preoccupied with this week’s FOMC meeting, job’s data, and second-quarter GDP report. Beginning sometime tomorrow morning, the FOMC meeting will run until the afternoon on Wednesday, at which point Fed chairperson Janet Yellen will make her post-meeting address to members of the media. Also due out sometime Wednesday afternoon is the second-quarter GDP report for the United States.

Finally, rounding out the week is the latest US employment report for the month of July. After June’s figures bested expert predictions and dropped the unemployment rate by another tenth of a percentage point, most are expecting July’s figures to be just as upbeat. While it is unclear how the rest of this week will unfold for precious metals, we do know that there will be a lot of information for investors to mull over and discuss.