Spot gold and silver are both trading slightly down during the first half of the day Monday. Despite the Crimean referendum going the exact way we thought it would, tensions in the region really haven’t moved at all. If anything, tensions in Crimea are on the decline, seen in a greater risk-on attitude by investors in the early goings of this 5-day session.

While we will continue to keep an eye on any and all developments out of Ukraine, the market in general is already shifting their attention elsewhere. With the all-important FOMC monthly policy meeting scheduled for Tuesday (and Wednesday), and a healthy slate of US homes data expected to be released during the midweek, investors are basing their investing decisions off of the expected outcomes of the aforementioned events.

Crimea Vote To Secede Goes As Expected

Yesterday was an important day in deciding the near-term future of Eastern Europe as citizens of the disputed Ukrainian territory of Crimea voted overwhelmingly to rejoin the Russian Federation. Despite Western leaders and the EU condemning the vote and refusing to recognize it as legitimate, the majority of Crimea made it clear that they would rather flee to the relative safety of Russia as opposed to facing an uncertain future in Ukraine.

Officially, over 90% of those that voted were in favor of rejoining Russia, so it is not like the ethnic-Russians living in Crimea only squeaked out a win, they won by a large margin. Western leaders are striking the vote down, the EU is imposing sanctions, and the world is looking on with uncertainty, but tensions in Crimea seem to be deescalating as I write this. There have been none of the expected military clashes in the wake of the referendum nor has there been threat of violence by either side. Because of the seeming acceptance of Crimea’s vote by the world at large, the risk-averse attitude we saw investors exhibiting last week is quickly receding.

With that being said, however, any type of violence that takes place as a result of yesterday’s vote will undoubtedly revive safe-haven demand for gold and silver. For this reason, and many more, we will continue keeping a close eye on Ukraine, Crimea, and everyone involved.

US Economic Data For The Week

More readily grabbing the attention of investors during the early trading hours of Monday is the FOMC monthly policy meeting that is expected to begin tomorrow and wrap up sometime Wednesday afternoon. The speculation regarding the possible decisions that will be made by the FOMC are abounding, but it is agreed by most that the market will be greeted with another $10 billion reduction to monthly bond-buying, also known as Quantitative Easing, or QE.

Another bond-buying reduction of this size will likely not affect the market place dramatically, but will do more good for US equities than it will for spot gold and silver. For this reason, precious metals investors will be hoping for some bullish data between now and the end of the week to prevent spot gold and silver from returning the gains they made a week ago.

The sizable amount of US housing data on the slate for this week is also of particular interest to worldwide investors, as is most any US economic data. Scheduled for release during the middle of the week, this data stands the chance of having some sort of impact on the marketplace, though it is too early to speculate one way or another.

Gold and silver did minimal moving to begin this week, though safe-haven demand for precious metals may be on the rise over the course of the next few days. Over the weekend, Russian troops, or what some are simply labeling pro-Russian militias, stormed and seized a number of buildings and compounds throughout the Crimea region of Ukraine.

The economic data released over the weekend worked against precious metals and though some bargain-hunting buying was featured today, effectively kept the metals grounded.

Crisis In Ukraine Continues To Leave Country Unsettled

The marketplace is still keeping an eye on the situation in Ukraine though it is not the primary concern of the investing world at this juncture. With that being said, however, additional Russian troops were reported as having moved into various parts of the Crimea region. Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying that he will indeed back the secession of Crimea should its citizens vote for the region to be once more under Russian control. Last week the parliament of Crimea voted unanimously to rejoin the Russian Federation, and for this reason it is believed that the citizens will vote similarly.

Leaders from the United States, Germany, and a handful of other countries have condemned Russia’s supposed actions thus far as well as their obstinate refusal to cease military action, despite it’s mostly peaceful nature. It is important to keep in mind, however, that even though Russia is being blamed for the takeovers of buildings and compounds, this cannot be officially confirmed as the soldiers are usually wearing masks and donning no specific national insignia.

The region is still very much on edge and so too is the world, even the slightest misstep by either side stands the potential to boil over into armed conflict between Russia, Ukraine, and a host of other nations. If this happens, safe-haven demand for gold and silver would likely spike back up to the levels it was at a little over a week ago.

Chinese Data Disappoints Again

While China has been the producer of some noticeably inconsistent economic data as of late, the import and export report released over the weekend was particularly unsettling for some. It was recorded that year on year exports for February fell by 18%. Compared to an expected increase of 5%, this data was shocking.

China’s month on month trade surplus actually turned into a deficit over the course of January to February. The $32 billion surplus China boasted in January was now a deficit of $23 billion and made it hard for gold and silver to make any real gains on Monday. As China is the world’s largest consumer of precious metals on an annual basis, any sub-par economic data from the world’s second largest economy tends to not bode well for spot gold nor spot silver.

Over the weekend a Malaysia Airlines flight en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China vanished over the South China Sea. At this juncture, nearly 3 days later, investigators are still just as clueless as they were on Saturday morning with regard to what actually happened to flight MH370. Though the market is not necessarily reacting to the plane’s disappearance, the possibility of this happening being potentially linked with terrorism is definitely something to pay attention to.

We will continue to monitor this as well as the situation in Ukraine in order to relay all the latest developments as accurately as possible.

Gold and silver are trading noticeably higher in the morning hours of Monday, mostly thanks to a deteriorating situation in Ukraine. Over the weekend, Russian troops marched into the Crimea region of Ukraine and have since seized control of a number of border posts, among other strategic locales. Though there has not been any large-scale violence to report, but that may change within the next 24 hours.

Over the course of the next 5 days, you can expect most news with regard to precious metals to be directly linked to the ongoing situation in Ukraine’s southeast.

Russia Gives Crimean Forces Ultimatum

In case you were unaware, the hotly contested region of Ukraine known as Crimea is home to a population that considers themselves more Russian than Ukrainian. Knowing this, it is easy to understand why Russia’s military has increased their presence there over the weekend. Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have continually made it clear that the presence of Russian troops is necessary so long as the lives of its citizens are at risk.

More recently, however, Russian officials have given Ukrainian troops in Crimea the ultimatum of laying down their arms by tomorrow morning lest they be faced with an armed response by Russia’s fleet of ships located in the adjacent Black Sea. This most recent threat was met with surprise by people of the world who thought that armed conflict was a very slim possible outcome of this situation. To many, the military actions by Russia are being taken as a threat to the stability of Ukraine, though Russian officials continue to insist that their actions are stemming directly from a need to preserve the livelihood of Russian’s living in Crimea. Over the weekend, when Russian troops made their way into Ukraine, the fact that the region is dominated by Russians and/or Russian-speaking Ukrainians was made evident when the Russian troops were met with little to no resistance. At this juncture, the world is tasked with deciphering whether Russia is simply trying to help their citizens avoid falling victim to Ukrainian civil violence or if their actions are an opportune attempt at seizing more power in the region.

Over the course of the next 24 hours, the situation in Ukraine will likely have numerous twists and turns. While it is uncertain what direction the Russian military will head in, one thing that is for certain is the fact that the Russian economy and currency are beginning to fall at a rapid pace. As the ruble depreciates and Russian stocks seem less appealing to investors, safe-haven demand for gold and silver is expected to continue to rise. Gold is currently on the verge of crossing over $1,350/ounce while silver is closing in on the $22 threshold for the second time in as many weeks.

Despite a rally by US stocks making some headlines early today, gold and silver are still managing to trade up during the morning hours of Monday. After posting marginal losses during the middle part of last week, both gold and silver were able to rebound on Friday and carry those small gains into this week. Economic data for the day is light, though even if there was a hefty offering chances are it would be overshadowed by the escalating violence in both the Ukraine and Thailand.

Tensions, Violence Increase In Europe and Asia

Thanks to a lack of economic data last week, the world had a chance to focus on the unrest in Ukraine. Protesters in the large Eastern European nation have been taking to the streets since this past November, but last week marked the first time violence flared up as dramatically as it did. With a death toll of over 100, last week made the entire world pay attention to Ukraine and its many glaring problems.

All of this violence and protesting stems from one decision made by former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych in late 2013. Due to a growing economic crisis, Yanukovych was backed into a corner and decided to take a $15 billion bailout from Russia in exchange for cutting ties with the EU. This decision was made in order to help the Ukrainian economy, but it ended up throwing the entire nation into turmoil as little to no Ukrainian citizens supported it or the president. Initially, protests throughout Ukraine were calm and organized, but as time passed the frustration grew and as is all too typical, it ended up boiling over. Frustrated citizens began clashing with police and before one could even blink an eye, peaceful rallies erupted into what looked like all-out war. Now, Yanukovych is in hiding and has seemingly abandoned the position of president of Ukraine. This entire situation is driving safe-haven demand for gold and silver as investors are more readily looking to abandon risk.

Elsewhere around the world, similar eruptions of violence are taking place between political rivals in Thailand. Over the weekend, the violence claimed the lives of at least 5 Thai citizens and has sent dozens others to hospitals. This too is driving safe-haven demand for gold and silver and is a large part of the reason spot values of precious metals have been up since daybreak and are looking like they will end the first day of this week with positive gains to reflect upon. As the week plays out, we will continue to monitor both the violence in Ukraine and Thailand for any signs of escalation or resolution.

Gold and silver are continuing along their upward trends as both metals are posting solid gains to begin the week. Though there was not much economic activity to talk about today, it was clear that precious metals were still riding their recent momentum. Gold is currently sitting near a three-month high and is seeing interest from investors all over the world.

Helping boost the spot values of precious metals is a weaker US Dollar as well as consistently weak US economic data. This week will not emit too much in the way of economic data, but what will be released will undoubtedly catch the full attention of investors.

Marketplace Expects Tapering to be Tapered

The last 6 or 7 trading sessions have seen gold and silver make consistent gains. This type of price movement has not been seen in months and is a direct result of depressed US economic data as well as decreasing interest in world equities. US stocks in particular have fallen victim to sell-offs recently and are in tattered shape to say the least. The US Dollar isn’t faring much better either, as currencies from elsewhere in the world have been making gains against the greenback.

All of this poor economic performance in the US is only leading investors to believe that the FOMC will hold off on reducing Quantitative Easing any further. As it stands, the monthly bond-buying initiative has been reduced by $20 billion since past December. While the market was initially expecting tapering to happen at every monthly FOMC meeting for the duration of the year, recent economic conditions in conjunction with statements from the newly appointed Fed chairperson are causing some to believe otherwise. Last week, newly appointed Fed chairperson Janet Yellen made her inaugural address to Congress. A majority of her remarks were negligible for investors, but she made a point of saying that the Fed is in no rush to do away with bond-buying. This was perceived as good news to the massive quantity of investors who feel as though the Fed is and has been rushing their tapering.

More upbeat Chinese economic data was released today, and it was reported that Chinese demand for gold and silver continues to be strong. Seeing as China is the world’s largest consumer of raw commodities, any upbeat economic news will likely be bullish for precious metals. As we head into the latter stages of February, investors will be interested to see if gold and silver can continue making gains. At this point all signs are pointing to yes, but a shift in the state of US economic data can halt gold and silver in their tracks.

Gold and silver traded higher to start off the second full week of February trading, probably due to last Friday’s weak employment report. Though this 5-day session is expected to be a relatively quiet one, that does not mean we will not see a lot of price movement. Chinese investors have made their way back to the marketplace after a week-long hiatus thanks to the Lunar New Year.

US economic data for the week is light and apart from the weekly jobless claims report will likely be mostly ignored by investors. US stocks traded slightly lower today while the US Dollar hovered near even.

Weak Employment Data, Federal Reserve Commentary

After December’s employment report indicated that far fewer jobs were added to the economy than were expected, a lot of people began questioning the real strength of the US economy. For this reason, last week’s employment report was of particular importance. As of early last week, the market was expecting new jobs added to the economy in January to come in around 190,000. Unfortunately, however, the jobs report for January indicated that only 113,000 new payrolls were added to the economy. In the immediate aftermath of the report gold and silver made substantial gains, but out of nowhere US equities regained a lot of the value they had dropped earlier in the week. Friday’s late gains made by US stock markets ended up preventing gold and silver from picking up even more value.

This week will hopefully shed some light on the US economy’s strength as a few members of the Fed are set to address the US House. First and foremost will be Tuesday’s commentary by Janet Yellen, the Fed’s new chairperson. She will be addressing the House Financial Service Committee with regard to the US economy and maybe even about the future of monetary policy.

Two other senior-ranking officials from the Fed are also speaking to the House this week, and their words will be met with close scrutiny. As of now, safe-haven demand for gold and silver is at its highest point in months and is looking like it will only rise further. A light batch of economic data this week will mean that the trend should be able to persist over the next few days.

Gold and silver are trading higher today thanks to US stocks declining at a rapid pace. A poor ISM manufacturing PMI reading didn’t do stocks any favors as the bad run of form of US economic data continues. Now, with China and the US seemingly on the decline, investors the world over are exhibiting a much more obvious risk-averse attitude. This week will offer the marketplace a boatload of economic data from the US which will hopefully paint a clearer picture of the US economy’s current overall strength.

Poor PMI Reading Prompts Another Stock Sell Off

The main report due out on Monday was the ISM manufacturing PMI reading for the US in January. Compared to a December reading of over 56.5, Monday’s reading of just over 51.0 came in much lower than what the market had expected. Actually, Monday’s reading was the lowest such PMI reading for the US manufacturing sector since last May. This PMI reading goes hand in hand with an equally disappointing reading from China last Friday.

As stocks continue to be sold off, we are seeing signs of increased safe-haven demand for precious metals. A lack of interest in equities coupled with a fear of emerging markets and their currencies is prompting investors to abandon the risk-on attitudes that were out in full force only a month ago. The recently downbeat economic data out of the US is also causing investors to wonder whether the Fed should think about slowing down reductions to QE or not. On one hand, there is a contingent of investors who attribute recently poor economic readings to a particularly snowy January in the US, while others are attributing recently poor performance to an overall slowdown in the economy. While it is still uncertain what the exact reason for the recent stock sell off is, one thing that is for certain is that this week’s batch of economic data will do well to give the investing world a better idea of just what is causing this poor performance.

So long as US equities continue to sell off gold and silver will benefit, but it is important to keep in mind that the USD is making gains too. Over the next few weeks it will be interesting to see if the USD and precious metals mimic each other or if the USD will end up putting heavy downward pressure on gold and silver, effectively keeping the metals grounded.

Gold rose to near 10-week highs in early morning overseas trading but quickly retreated shortly after US trading began. Liquidity is quickly becoming a problem for some economies and a worry for others, seen in the somewhat large sell-off of periphery currencies like the Indian Rupee, South African Rand, and the Argentine Peso. In that same breath it is worth mentioning that risk-aversion is becoming more widespread throughout the world marketplace as investors everywhere fear another tapering announcement happening as a result of tomorrow and Wednesday’s Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting.

Though gold has since retreated from its impressive overnight and early morning highs, it is still hovering above key resistance levels, namely the $1,260 mark.

All Eyes On the Fed This Week

There is a lot of moving and shaking going on in the marketplace today, of which can mostly be attributed to tomorrow and Wednesday’s FOMC policy meeting. As of now, the market is anticipating another $10 billion reduction to the Federal Reserve’s monthly bond-buying policy, also known as Quantitative Easing. The very real possibility of less cash flowing through the US and world markets only adds to growing liquidity problems.

US equities are holding their collective heads above water today, but after Friday’s poor performance significant damage has already been done. In fact, Friday’s poor US stock performance carried over into Monday and pressured stock markets in Europe and Asia. Finally it seems as though the bullish stock market run we have seen over the past few weeks is coming to a conclusion. As investors cash in on profits made over the past weeks and months they are more readily looking for new places to allocate their funds. Because tapering may not have as minimal of an impact on stocks as it did the first time around, investors have been showing increased signs of risk-aversion the last few days. Any time investors are looking to avoid risk interest in US Treasuries and precious metals tends to increase.

Though metals may lag over today and tomorrow, the outcome of the FOMC meeting stands the chance of pushing gold and silver forward over the coming weeks and months.

Gold and silver are both trading a bit higher in the early parts of Monday. Americans are celebrating the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday today which means that trading volumes, at least in the US, will be lighter than usual. Gold is hovering around a 6-week high today and is being supported by a weaker US Dollar and retreating US equities. European equities are also trading down a bit on Monday, something that shouldn’t be too surprising after the hot streak we witnessed them go on last week.

As we inch ever closer to the next Federal Reserve policy meeting the speculation with regard to Quantitative Easing’s future will undoubtedly pick up.

Precious Metals Looking to Break Through Key Resistance Line

After dropping below $1,200 not much longer than a month ago, gold has since been able to gain back about $70 to currently be hovering around $1,250 for the past week. Market experts are keying the present point in time as an important “crossroads” for gold and silver. Should gold be able to break through the $1,260 threshold this week it may be a sign that the metal is on its way to making a bullish run. In the same breath, however, it must be said that the opposite very well might happen and we might see gold and silver decline or stagnate once again. This means that everyone’s attention will be placed on worldwide equity markets once normal trading is resumed tomorrow. Should equities continue to cool off gold and silver may have ample footing to make substantial, lasting gains. After losing a lot of its value last year, investors in gold are hoping 2014 will write a different story.

Another key factor in determining which direction precious metals will head is the future of Quantitative Easing. While there are members of the FOMC quoted as saying they want to see QE completely done away with by the end of the year, it is unclear whether or not such will be the case. If QE is reduced even further it is likely that such a move will not be favorable for precious metals, seen in how gold and silver reacted the first time QE was reduced a little over a month ago.

Market analyst for Kitco.com, Gary Wagner, sees a trend where every time gold declines in value it surges back with a vengeance, but only to a certain “resistance line” (around $1,260 or so). What he means by this is that there is a visible trend in devaluation and increased valuation for gold. Wagner sees this point in time as a crossroads where gold is approaching that resistance line and if it can break through we may see a large rally, but if it doesn’t break through we very well might revert back to the lows we witnessed last July and more recently last December. All in all, the next week or more seems like it will be very telling of gold’s immediate future. Silver, on the other hand, is acting seemingly independent of gold and is more or less stagnating. With that being said, however, these next few weeks will be of particular importance to silver as well.

Gold and silver are slightly up today as investors are still attempting to digest last Friday’s weaker than anticipated employment report for December. In case you missed it, the non-farm payrolls data for past December showed that payrolls increased by only 74,000. While any increase in non-farm payrolls is beneficial for the US economy, the 74,000 increase recorded last month was well below the 200,000 increase that the market expected to see.

The weak report aided gold and silver on Friday, but investors were more interested to see whether or not precious metals would be able to sustain last week’s gains during this 5-day session.

Weak Employment Report Causes Widespread Worry

Last week’s employment report came as a huge surprise to investors who have seen nothing but signs of a strengthening US economy lately. Even the ADP employment report, released just two days before the non-farms data, came back much stronger than expected. Now, investors will be heavily scrutinizing every piece of economic data from the United States in order to gauge whether the non-farm payrolls from December were just a fluke or something more serious, like an early indication of a weakening US economy.

Precious metals seem to be gaining momentum as gold hit a 4-week high in the overnight hours. The US Dollar, on the other hand, is selling off more rapidly during the first half of Monday.

In other news from around the world, Iran and 6 other major world powers met to discuss the continued winding down of Iran’s nuclear program. These strides toward stabilizing the Middle East are great for the troubled region but often end up working against gold and silver as safe-haven assets. Though this weekend’s talks did little in the way of moving precious metals spot values, it will be important to monitor this and all other developments in the future.

Finally, the Chinese New Year is being celebrated towards the end of January and as always will likely translate into increased physical demand for gold and silver. Officially, the New Year holiday begins on January 31st and it is a common tradition to give precious metals as a gift.