After a better than expected jobs report last Friday, gold and silver dropped 4% and 3% respectively on the week and also added speculation to whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first time since 2006. The report sent oil, stocks and the dollar higher, but that was soon curtailed following news of an impasse in Greece.
On Monday morning, futures for gold and silver were rebounding on the heels of an escalating dispute between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and international lenders. Tsipras is calling for an end to austerity measures, which is setting up the possibility that Greece will leave the Euro.
This bodes well for gold as explained by Phil Streible, senior market strategist at RJO Futures:
“It seems like Greece is separating itself more and more from the euro zone, and I think they’re really causing problems there. You might be seeing people diversify out of euro currency and repositioning into the gold market.”
As of late Monday, gold was down from its highs for the day, but still over $7 higher while the Dow Jones is off 87 points to 17,736.
A few upcoming economic indicators that may affect gold and silver include:
- Weekly jobless claims (…each Thursday)
- Retail sales (Thurs., Feb. 12)
- Consumer sentiment (Fri, Feb. 13)
- Federal Reserve Open Market Committee Minutes (Weds, Feb. 18)
Gold was also up on Monday because of increased physical demand ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year.