Daily Market Report 04/25/12

GOLD
All energy and precious metal markets initially declined on today’s FOMC announcement. Gold broke down below $1,625 per ounce before seeing heavy demand. At 11am PDT, Gold is trading at $1,634.60 per ounce, down $7.80 per ounce.

Over the past several years, Fed monetary policy has been a major stimulus for gold prices. Given the mixed macroeconomic signals over the past couple weeks, today’s FOMC statement takes on added significance, especially considering that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to hold a press conference and provide an economic forecast after the policy statement. Investors will try to read into the numbers and forecast any possibility of further quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve.

SILVER
After the FOMC statement Silver briefly fell below $30 per ounce and heavy trading, then bounced back as massive buying appeared.  At 11am PDT, Silver is trading at $30.42, down $0.38 on heavy volume.

Physical demand for Silver is staying strong in Asia as China reported today that net silver imports rose to 179 tonnes in March, up from 171 tonnes in February.