Daily Market Report 5/17/13

GOLD

On Friday Gold fell for a seventh straight day, its longest losing streak in four years, as speculation that the Federal Reserve may soon rein in monetary easing lifted the value of the U.S. dollar versus other major currencies. The dollar rose, hitting a near three-year high against a currency basket, helped by comments from San Francisco Fed chief John Williams on Thursday the bank could begin easing up on stimulus this summer.

Today Gold was on the defensive from the start in Asia, the continued drop in the ETF stockpiles is a constant negative. However, the extraordinary global physical demand easily offsets the drop in ETF holdings, but the ETF (paper Gold) holdings drop is getting all the press. At 11am PDT today, Gold is down $23 per ounce, trading at $1,364 per ounce on heavier than average volume for a Friday.

SILVER

As Gold has fallen during the past seven trading days Silver surprisingly held up better and did not break down below the $22 per ounce support level. At 11am PDT today, Silver is trading at $22.32 per ounce, down $0.37 per ounce.