Precious metal prices have tried higher since trading resumed yesterday as escalating tension in the Ukraine and speed bumps being hit over Greece’s debt negotiations with the ECB and IMF have brought buyers to the gold and silver market. China released terrible economic data yesterday as their exports fell by 3.30 percent while imports plummeted by 19.90 percent as the economic health of the world’s second largest economy continues to show weakness and will weigh on the global economy. Gold and silver, while off the overnight highs, continue to trade in positive territory this morning and silver is above $17.00 which is a welcome sign while platinum and palladium were not able to hold the rally and are trading below Friday’s settlement levels
The unrest mentioned above has U.S. equities trading lower this morning, while bonds continue to sell-off as the yield on the 10 year bond has risen 25 basis points and is back over 1.90 percent. Crude oil continues its recent recovery on a bullish report from OPEC as it has broken above $52.00. All things considered it is a bit unsettling that gold is only up $4.00 this morning. Silver is likely to be the leader this week from a technical perspective. The 50 and 100 day moving averages come in on either side of $16.75 where support should be strong while a break above the 10 day average at $17.30 could bring another test of $17.75.