Daily Market Report 01/19/12

GOLD

Over the past 24 hours, gold has been trading in a narrow range. Gold’s low/high spread has been $1,648 to $1,663 per ounce in active global trading. I believe this type of base building is healthy for the market and could last till month end.  The fundamental reasons for gold ownership keep getting better. The IMF is looking to raise an additional $500 billion to help “combat the world’s spreading fiscal emergencies” and South Africa reported today that gold production fell 4.5% year on year. At 11am PDT, gold is trading at $1,656.80, down $3.90 on average trading volume.

SILVER

This is the fourth day in a row that Silver has held above the important $30 per ounce price level.  Plus, during the past three days silver has shown a higher percentage move than gold on bullish news. I believe the silver market is saying that additional government stimulus (QE) is coming soon to avoid a possible global recession.  Whether it will be the IMF, ECB, U.S. Federal Reserve or the Central bank of China, Japan or India, or any combination it looks like the quantitative easing is on the way. To quote Bill Gross of Pimco, “Central Banks are Printing Money like Gangbusters”.  In next Monday’s Weekly Market Report I’ll be raising the diversification percentage for silver. At 11am PDT, spot Silver is at $30.62, up $0.07 per ounce on active trading.

Other Important news that affects precious metal prices:

The Greek government on Wednesday appeared to move closer to a deal with private bondholders that would avert a threatened default by Athens.

The number of Americans who filed requests for jobless benefits sank by 50,000 last week to 352,000, the lowest level since April 2008, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.