Despite a bit of renewed safe haven psychology from weak U.S. and European data, renewed fears of another US government shutdown, forecasts of expanding central bank gold demand and upbeat silver Institute projections for silver, prices have started out under pressure.
Obviously strength in the dollar remains the primary bearish force but the charts appear to have settled into a lower high and lower low pattern. Unfortunately for the bull camp total gold derivative holdings fell again in what has become a recent trend and a major fund manager (BlackRock) indicated the Fed could still raise interest rates twice this year.
In the end, the primary driving force for gold and silver will likely remain the Dollar and the Dollar looks capable of further gains! In the event the March Dollar Index manages to settle in above 96.00 that could be a psychological inflection point for a fresh wave of currency related selling of gold and silver.
The delayed Commitments of Traders Futures and Options report as of December 31st for Gold showed Non-Commercial and Non-reportable combined traders held a net long position of 166,647 contracts. The delayed Commitments of Traders Futures and Options report as of December 31st for Silver showed Non-Commercial and Non-reportable combined traders held a net long position of 58,864 contracts.
We invite you to signup for our more comprehensive market update delivered directly to your inbox.
Non-Reliance and Risk Disclosure: The opinions expressed here are for general information purposes only and should not be construed as trade recommendations, nor a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any precious metals product. The material presented is based on information that we consider reliable, but we do not represent that it is accurate, complete and/or up to date, and it should not be relied on as such. Opinions expressed are current as of the time of posting and only represent the views of the author and not those of Zaner Financial Services LLC, unless otherwise expressly noted.
