Frequently, seemingly unrelated things impact each other. In Information Technology, changing software in one area adversely impacts a database in another. In a more day-to-day example, did you know that replacing a brake light switch on a vehicle can make the automatic door locks work again? Other examples occur all around us.
This week, the metals took a nose dive with three of them incurring small decreases on Wednesday followed by all four encountering sharp downward movement on Thursday and Friday. Some think the release of stockpiled oil reserves made the metals’ values go down. Oil and the metals are seemingly unrelated commodities.
Let’s take a look at the charts.
First, there’s gold:
Next is silver:
Third is platinum:
Last is palladium:
After ending the previous week on an upward note, gold continued closing upward on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, while the other metals began their downward moves, gold not only ended up, it also achieved a new 30-day high point. That high was short-lived as Thursday and Friday both saw gold drop dramatically. Gold ended the week with a new 30-day low point, though it is slightly higher than the previous low which dropped off the 30-day chart.
Silver, on the other hand, has not seen significant growth recently. It did end the previous week going upward which it continued that upward movement on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday silver began a slight downturn before falling dramatically on Thursday and Friday. Silver also ended the week with a new 30-day low value, but it is lower than the previous low point.
Behaving differently, platinum started the week by closing down on Monday, but on Tuesday it regained most of its Monday’s loss. Wednesday saw platinum begin to move back downward but only slightly. Then, like the other metals, platinum dropped significantly on Thursday and Friday. The week ended with platinum reaching a new 30-day low point, significantly less than the last one.
Palladium ended the previous week on a downward note and began this week with only a slight upward move on Monday. Tuesday saw a dramatic increase for palladium before it dropped slightly on Wednesday. Keeping in tune with the other metals, palladium dropped significantly on Thursday and Friday. This metal also ended the week with a new 30-day low point, but like gold, its new low is slightly higher than the one that fell off the chart.
Let’s see how the new highs and lows compare for the four metals:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Jun 24 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,552.50 | $1,502.30 | $1,502.30 | 3.2% |
| Silver | $38.65 | $34.32 | $34.32 | 11.2% |
| Platinum | $1,842.00 | $1,685.00 | $1,685.00 | 8.5% |
| Palladium | $814.00 | $728.00 | $728.00 | 10.6% |
A quick visit back to last Friday’s information shows gold and palladium’s new lows increased by $13.55 and $5.00, respectively, while silver’s decreased by $0.27 and platinum’s went down $62.00. Silver’s new low remains a 30-day low, but platinum’s dramatic decrease this week achieved a new six-month low point for the metal.
With the week’s decreases, we know the metals went down week-over-week. Let’s look at how much they went down:
| Jun 17 Last | Jun 24 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,540.00 | $1,502.30 | -2.4% | -$37.70 |
| Silver | $35.90 | $34.32 | -4.4% | -$1.58 |
| Platinum | $1,751.00 | $1,685.00 | -3.8% | -$66.00 |
| Palladium | $744.00 | $728.00 | -2.2% | -$16.00 |
Was all of the impact due to the release of oil from the reserves? Could some of the impact be from the decisions in Greece? What about other economic and political decisions — domestic and global — that play havoc with the markets?
People can speculate about the impact and can have as many differing opinions as there are people making their guesses. The real reasons the metals fell this week include a variety of factors — factors that cannot be assigned a percentage of the blame with any degree of certainty.
Will next week’s metals performance be up, down or both? It depends.