Daily Market Report 05/15/12

GOLD
Gold is showing excellent support at the $1,550 per ounce price level. Although we have seen heavy selling coming out of the European banks to raise their currency reserves, the buying from Asia at the current low prices has provided the incentive to make sizeable purchases. With the IMF’s Gold purchases (see below) the pressure to sell Gold from insolvent European banks will lessen. Adding to the weakness in the Gold/Silver prices is the strength of the U.S. Dollar versus the Euro, now up for the twelfth day in the row. At 11am PDT, Gold is at $1,557.20 per ounce, down $8.80 per ounce on very heavy trading.  

IMF Buys $2.3 Billion Worth of Gold
After years of selling Gold to help finance developing countries projects, the IMF is now forced to purchase $2.3 billion worth of Gold $(1.5 million ounces) on account of rising global risks. The IMF currently holds around 2,800 tonnes of Gold, but facing increasing credit demand and risk from many Euro-Zone countries, it needs to increase the Fund’s Gold reserves. This announcement comes as no surprise, because many Greek, Spanish and Italian banks are badly in need of Euros and U.S. Dollars and have been selling Gold into the global commodity markets to raise funds.   

SILVER
Trading in Silver this morning has been active, with a low of $27.87 per ounce and a high of $28.56 on excellent volume.  At 11am PDT, Silver is down $0.40, trading at $28.12 per ounce on excellent volume.

PLATINUM & PALLADIUM
Both Platinum and Palladium made new 30-day lows this morning and turned up on excellent demand. Both are trading higher on the day with Platinum up $9.00 at $1,451 per ounce, and Palladium up $10 at $603 per ounce.