For precious metals, the last 5 days have not been all that eventful. Despite getting the week off to a great start, things quickly turned around by midweek and whatever gains were made on Monday and Tuesday were done away with by Thursday. There has been a lot going on across the global marketplace as of late, but much of this action is more speculation and guessing than anything else.
As far as economic data is concerned, there really was not all that much to talk about this week. What little there was, however, was of great importance to investors the world over. Looking ahead to next week, the 5-day trading session’s top billing is without a doubt the FOMC meeting that is expected to kick off on Tuesday and wrap up sometime Wednesday afternoon with a speech from fed chairperson Janet Yellen.
Greece Remains Obstinate
It seems as though we have not been able to keep Greece out of the headlines for the past few months. Now, the story hasn’t changed much, but the clock is slowly winding down to the point where Greece is either going to have to pay debts or no longer remain part of the European Union.
This week, in an apparent show of frustration, the IMF’s negotiation team headed back to Washington DC after a bunch of failed talks. Like the IMF, the European Commission is equally frustrated with Greece, saying that the Mediterranean nation is gambling with its future by not abiding by IMF/EU budgetary targets and other reforms. Because of this obstinacy, Greece is continuing to go without multiple billions of euros worth of bailout funds.
Next week will bring us to the latter half of the month, so it will be interesting to see if Greece wises up or continues along this same path. Though many people have retained hope for a deal through even the toughest of times, I am beginning to think that Greece’s days as a member of the European Union are numbered.
Miscellaneous US Data
This week brought about some US economic data, but it was notable because of how upbeat the data was. For one, there was a report from May showing that year on year retail sales for the US rose by about 1.2%. Considering expectations were for an annualized gain of 1%, this news was generally regarded as being great.
What’s more, reports from May indicate that imports rose for the first time in more than ten months. This batch of data only lends more credence to the belief that interest rates will be raised sometime this summer.
Next week brings about the June installment of the FOMC meeting, and it is expected to kick off on Tuesday and wrap up sometime Wednesday afternoon with a statement on the part of Janet Yellen, the Fed chairperson. I, like many others, am hoping that we will find out some more information regarding the timing and extent of interest rate hikes, but am not going to hold my breath on the matter. I am of the school of thought that the next few weeks will be telling for gold and silver, but I am not so sure it will be anything positive such that spot values will move forward.
Gold and silver made gains during the early parts of the week, but things quickly turned around by Wednesday. Now, precious metals are going to conclude the week having not moved all that much from where they began the 5-day trading session. It will truly be interesting to see what happens to spot values over the course of the next few weeks.