Yes - Something Has Changed In Precious Metals Markets

[Some excerpts from the latest issue of the Weekend Update in the subscribers section of the website.]

It was another interesting week for gold and silver markets as chronicled on Friday in Did Anything Change This Week For Precious Metals Markets? With a bit more time to ponder the subject, it seems the question posed in that title can be answered a bit more definitively now.

Yes - something did change last week in precious metals markets.

In short, recent economic data has revealed how fragile the U.S. economy is and this makes it far less likely that the Federal Reserve will stop printing money or start raising interest rates anytime soon. As investors watch the Fed’s balance sheet rise in the months ahead and wonder what elected officials in Washington will do about the nation’s intractable debt troubles without choking off the recovery, investor interest is sure to return to precious metals.

That’s the message that can be gleaned from the surprise drop in fourth quarter economic growth and the increase in the unemployment rate, though there were also a few other notable events in precious metals markets last week including record coin sales, central bank buying, and developments in Asia.
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It seemed constructive to look at the gold price alongside the combination of rising U.S. debt and increased central bank money printing and the result is shown below.

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