Market Update 21 July 2021

Gold prices experienced peaks and troughs this week but ultimately ended the week at the relatively same level, gaining just 0.11%. Prices for the yellow bullion rose from $1,805/oz last Wednesday to $1,807/oz today. The precious metal experienced a high of $1,834/oz, the highest price in 5 weeks since the massive fall during the June 16th/17th trading session. Gold traded consistently above the psychological $1,800 level as it dipped just once to its weekly low of $1,794/oz.

GOLD PRICE (1 YEAR)

Source: Tradingview; COMEX

Silver, which has stayed on a very similar course to gold over the last few weeks, has experienced a much different fate this week. The white metal records a significant -4.42% loss as it sees its prices free fall from $26.03/oz 7 days ago to $25.88/oz at the time of writing. This week, silver experienced a high of $26.55/oz and a low of $24.80/oz, the lowest price in 15 weeks. While gold leads its slow recovery to previous prices, silver extends its losses which started in June. Since then, the metal has lost a total of -11.55%.

SILVER PRICE (1 YEAR)

Source:Tradingview; COMEX

Platinum too faced a disappointing week as it sees its prices fall from $1,101/oz to $1,066/oz today, demonstrating a substantial -3.18% loss in the span of 7 days. This week, the metal experienced a high of $1,144/oz and a low of $1,053/oz, the lowest price in 3 weeks.

Palladium took the biggest blow this week as it was hit with a massive -6.75% weekly loss where it saw its prices drop from $2,828/oz last Wednesday to $2,637/oz today. Palladium experienced a high of $2,842/oz and a low of $2,574/oz, the lowest price in 4 weeks.

Rhodium joins the downward trend ongoing in the industrial metals by demonstrating a -4.19% loss as it sees its prices fall from $19,050/oz to $18,250/oz. Since the start of its price decline on May 1st, Rhodium has lost a total of -38.13%.

Increased COVID-19 cases, specifically those belonging to the Delta variant have pushed back economic recovery and further inflamed inflation which will be here for a while. This has caused a significant dip in the US Treasury 10-Year yield amounting to -9.81%. A massively lower dip in the yield should cause an uptick in gold prices yet these prices struggled to move higher as the US Dollar Index (DXY) moved upwards from 92.38 to 93.04.

A solid rebound in the equities market on the NASDAQ, S&P 500 and DOW Jones also held precious metals back from moving higher.

Next week, the FOMC will meet on July 27th to 28th and precious metals investors will be looking out for any hints on interest hikes and changes to other monetary policies such as the continuous US$120 billion/month asset purchase of bonds. Since the last June meeting, inflation has continued to grow higher and employment rates have increased more than anticipated.