September 11th Weekly Silver Market Update

Precious metals backed down to conclude this week of trading. When all was said and done, these past 5 trading days have been more of a miss for precious metals than anything else. Though we have had a few days where gains were realized, most of the week has been taken over by surging stock markets and speculation regarding the potential FOMC rate hike.

Upbeat Data From European Economies

One of the major talking points this week was a slew of upbeat economic reports from all over the Eurozone. France, of all countries, emerged this week with a report claiming that their economy is improving slowly but surely. Finance ministers from the nation held that Q3 growth for this year is expected to continue along its current upward trend. Industrial production in the nation is one of the many bright spots as France tried to make its way out of years of recession and otherwise poor economic figures.

Germany also released upbeat economic reports, though this was not quite as surprising seeing as the marketplace has constantly touted Germany as being one of the strongest performers across the EU. Finally, an upward revision to the Eurozone’s Q2 GDP data gave investors confidence that Europe may actually be showing nice signs of improvement. As we move forward it will be interesting to see just how much better the EU economy will be.

FOMC Meeting Speculation

Another mainstay across the marketplace this week was speculation regarding if and when interest rates in the United States will be raised. This has been a topic of discussion for some time now, but with so many fingers having been pointed to September’s FOMC meeting, investors are hoping to hear some concrete info with regard to the future of rate hikes.

On one hand, most of the market is convinced that we will wait at least another month until rates are increased, though some investors are still hanging on to the belief that rates will be risen come next week. With the turbulent nature of recent economic conditions, I can see why the Fed is being hesitant to raise interest rates. Still, the US economy and especially the labor market is peforming extremely well, and with that being one of the prerequisites for raised interest rates, that is why so many people think next week might be the week.

On Thursday, the labor market got yet another boost as it was announced that weekly jobless claims fell by more than 5,000 last week. Jobless claims seem to be on an almost consistent downward trend, and that is something that very much helps the idea that rates will be moved forward. On the other hand, all of this talk regarding China’s instability and their constantly changing monetary policies is something that makes rat hikes a bit less likely. When it comes down to it, very few people know what is going on.

As we look ahead to the forthcoming week, I have a hard time imagining that we will be talking about much else besides rate hikes. I have a difficult time believing that anything happening early next week will sway the Feds ultimate decision one way or another, but that much remains to be seen. What we do know, however, is that next week is already shaping up to be an eventful one.