Gold, Silver Rise On Concerns Of Further Currency Debasement and QE4

By Roger Baettig | November 30 2012 10:03 AM

REUTERS

The powerful rate-setting committee of the Federal Reserve decided to extend its current strategy of manipulating the credit markets to artificially depress the cost of long-term financing, a strategy colloquially known as "Operation Twist," until the end of the year.

Sponsorship Link

Today’s AM fix was USD 1,728.25, EUR 1,329.53, and GBP 1,077.87 per ounce. Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,724.50, EUR 1,327.56, and GBP 1,076.47 per ounce.

Silver is trading at $34.32/oz, €26.53/oz and £21.50/oz. Platinum is trading at $1,621.00/oz, palladium at $683.30/oz and rhodium at $1,050/oz.

Gold rose $6.40 or 0.37% in New York yesterday and closed at $1,725.60/oz. Silver fell to a low of $33.51 in Asia, and ran up to $34.36 in New York and finished with a gain of 1.51%.

Cross Currency Table – (Bloomberg)

Gold inched up on Friday, but prices saw their largest weekly drop since the beginning of November as the unease of the talks on the US fiscal cliff continue to weigh on sentiment.

Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner said yesterday that the fiscal cliff talks made little progress, dampening the flame of optimism that he lit on Wednesday.

"Based on where we stand today I would say two things. First, despite the claims that the president supports a balanced approach, the Democrats have yet to get serious about real spending cuts," Boehner said after the private session with Geithner. "And secondly, no substantive progress has been made in the talks between the White House and the House over the last two weeks," Boehner commented.

US Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, is Obama's chief negotiator in talks to avert the US fiscal cliff.

XAU/USD 5 Min – (Bloomberg)

Spot palladium is on course for its 5th weekly gain and a monthly rise of over 14%. Supply shortages contribute to the gain. Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium, said they expect the palladium market to remain in a deficit in the next few years largely due to a near depletion of Russian state supplies.

XAU/EUR 5 Min – (Bloomberg)

Spot silver is on course for a monthly gain of over 6%.

The Shanghai Gold Exchange said it will begin a trial run of OTC gold trading on the China Foreign Exchange Trading System on December 3rd, allowing interbank trading in large volumes.

The US CFTC (Commodities & Futures Trading Commission) commitment of traders is posted at 1930 GMT.

There is speculation in the markets that the US Federal Reserve will purchase more debt to help the US economy which is boosting gold bullion.

While speaking at Pace University in Manhattan , Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley said, “I will be assessing the employment and inflation outlook in order to determine whether we should continue Treasury purchases into 2013.” Dudley also stated, “The Fed will promote maximum employment and price stability to the greatest extent our tools permit, and we will stay the course.”

Fed officials are considering whether to step up record accommodation to counteract the scheduled expiration next month of Operation Twist, a program swapping short-term Treasuries with longer-term debt. A “number” of Fed officials said at the last policy meeting that they may need to expand its monthly purchases of bonds, according to the minutes of the FOMC ’s Oct. 23-24 meeting.

Gold has returned 10% this year and silver has returned 23% year to date, driven by quantitative easing.

For breaking news and commentary on financial markets and gold, follow us on Twitter.

XAU/GBP, 5 Min – (Bloomberg)NEWSGold ticks up; headed for biggest weekly drop in 4 weeks - Reuters