Gold Shrugs Off Tapering Concern to Move Higher

• Gold Moving Closer to Yearly High
• Improving Job Numbers Fail to Dent Consistency  
• Silver Prices Remain Steady as Demand Continues

This week in commodities news gold prices continued slightly higher and appeared to shake off any concerns earlier in the week on better than expected US jobless claims. This more in favor of steady demand and lingering uncertainty over Fed policy in regard to tapering, inflation, and the recovery overall. Silver also continued to creep higher on the week as industrial demand continues to show strength alongside many other materials. Both are trading higher week on week at the time of writing.

Yearly High in View for Gold

Gold prices slipped back slightly mid-week from what was a 4-month high close to $1890. This came as the Federal Reserve meeting minutes for the month had traders across the market talking about possible tapering that had been alluded to. This brought prices down slightly before Fed Chief Jerome Powell poured cold water on the idea deeming it too soon to think of taking such measures.

This helped steady prices moving into the end of the week where gold trades around $1880 with the positive sentiment returned to the market and $1900 along with the highs for the year remaining very possible. More news will be awaiting on any measures to cut back on economic stimulus and this could prove the next key driver to gold prices in the weeks ahead.

Jobless Numbers Beat Doesn’t Trouble Market 

Another area where positive data emerged this week was in the US unemployment claims numbers. These numbers fell to a pandemic-era low of 444,000 for the previous week and marked a push back to work in the economy as more and more people put COVID-19 in the rearview mirror. This may typically be expected to lead to a dip in gold prices though the market has remained steady throughout.

Continued worry on the inflationary impact of such large volumes of stimulus remains a key factor at play, as does the renewed turbulence not only in equities markets on Wall Street but also the cryptocurrency market which, having seen a huge run-up of late, demonstrated a degree of volatility that may have led traders to seek shelter in the safe haven so often provided by the gold market.

Industry Demand Keeps Silver Riding High

Silver has also maintained its run higher. Earlier in the week, it moved up to a more than 3 month high above $28 before settling slightly below that mark today. This week has seen a downward trend in metals like copper and other raw materials such as lumber that had been flying high.

Many feel that silver is best positioned to move higher though. This is thanks in the most part to continued strong industrial demand as the world returns to work. Add in its own position as a secondary store of value behind gold and the signs remain positive for the weeks ahead.