November 14th Weekly Silver Market Update

Gold and silver spot values are looking like they will finish the week on a positive note, but the week, as a whole, is not going to be anything to write home about. There hasn’t been much economic data made public this week and that, more than anything else, has helped gold and silver. The reason for this is because most of the data that has been made public in recent weeks is upbeat in nature and generally adversarial to the progress of gold and silver spot values.

As it stands, demand for gold and silver is surging and really doing well, however, physical demand alone is likely not going to be enough to bring about an elongated rally for precious metals. With a market as bearish as the current one is, it is going to be extremely difficult for metals to retain or add to today’s gains.

Major Banks Accused of Cheating the System

While it is true that there weren’t too many pieces of economic data for investors to talk about this week, Wednesday did bring about quite possibly the biggest news from the global banking industry we have received in some time now. According to multiple reports, an investigation led by Swiss, US, and UK banking authorities alleges that 5-7 of the world’s largest banks were actively manipulating foreign exchange markets in an effort to boost their profits. The months-long investigation only recently concluded and is now resulting in a $3.4 billion settlement with the accused banks.

This news did not have too much of an impact on stocks or the US Dollar, but it is definitely something to think about. This is the first investigation we have seen that pertains to matters like this, so it will be interesting to see what other investigations stem from this one. We have known for a while now that not all financial institutions fall the law to the letter, but we finally have an official investigation to confirm it.

Another big piece of data released this week came yesterday in the form of this week’s weekly jobless claims report. According to the report, claims for unemployment rose this week by far more than anyone was expecting. On the back of last week’s sub-par employment report, these weekly jobless claims are doing stocks and the Dollar no favors. Still, the overall outlook on the US economy is upbeat and is likely to continue to be that way for some time to come. For gold and silver, this is not such good news because it means that metals will become less and less attractive as alternative investments. With that said, however, there are a lot of people actively trying to get their hands on more precious metals right now simply because the spot values are so low.