Gold and silver started the last week of the year with moderate falls. Will this slow crawl down of precious metals continue this week? Today, the KOF Economic Barometer report will be published.
Gold slightly declined on Monday by 0.65% to $1,595.5; silver on the other hand slightly declined by 1.18% to $28.74. The chart below shows the development of gold and silver during December (normalized gold and silver prices to November 30th 2011). During December gold declined by 8.8% and silver by 12.4%.
The Euro/USD slightly rose on Monday by 0.21% to reach 1.3072. Furthermore, other exchange rates also moderately appreciated against the USD. If major currencies will change direction and depreciate against the USD, it may also affect gold and silver to further decline.
The ratio between gold and silver slightly rose on Monday, December 27th and reached 55.51. During the month the ratio gained 4.0% as gold has outperformed silver.
U.S. Consumer Confidence Rose in December
According to the recent U.S. survey, the consumer confidence index inclined from 55.2 (1985=100) in November to 64.5 December. American consumers' short term outlook in U.S. business conditions has also improved according to the report. This mews may have been among the factors to pull up energy and push down precious metals during yesterday's trading as explained in the related post.
On Today's Agenda
KOF Economic Barometer: this report offers a forecast of the Swiss economy in the months to come. In the recent press release, the report predicted that the Swiss Economy is headed towards stagnation in 2012;
Gold and Silver Outlook:
Gold and silver moderately declined during recent weeks: gold price has declined during the past four business days, each time by less than one percent drop. Despite the rally in oil, and Forex markets (such as CAD), gold and silver continued to decline. I speculate this slow crawl down of precious metals might continue throughout the remainder of the week, unless there will be a breaking news that could stir up the markets such as new development about the European debt crisis or the economic progress of the U.S.
For further reading:
Gold and Silver Prices Weekly Outlook for December 26-30
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