Gold Spot Price Open: $1,197

Gold Spot Price Close: $1,196

Change in Gold Spot Price: -$1

Silver Spot Price Open: $16.84

Silver Spot Price Close: $16.74

Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.10

Gold and silver finished the day posting small losses, thought to be fair there wasn’t a whole lot of fresh activity to report on. When all was said and done, gold managed to lose about 1 dollar while silver lost roughly 10 cents. Platinum and palladium both managed to move upward on the day at first, before finishing the day not having gained or lost much at all.

Hawkish Fed Comments Keep Metals in Check

On Thursday, continued talk with regard to the possibility of more interest rate hikes coming this year ended up keeping precious metals from appreciating too much. In a speech just outside Philadelphia on Thursday, Philadelphia Federal Reserve president Patrick Harker commented on the robust nature of US economic growth. According to him, there is a good chance we will see at least 3 interest rate hikes before 2017 is brought to a close.

In his statement, Harker said, “All in all, things are looking good. The labor market is strong and we’re creating jobs at a good pace. Inflation is moving back up to our 2% goal, and growth is solid. We’re starting 2017 off on a good foot.”

Harker’s comments today worked to complement comments made by Chicago’s Fed president Charles Evans. To make a long story short, Evans also made it clear that he thinks economic conditions—at least as they exist presently—are such that three more rate hikes this year is not something that is beyond the realm of possibility. Even with Harker’s comments today and comments from Evans last week, both gold and silver have managed to remain in somewhat elevated positions. Gold, in particular, is doing well and has remained above the key price point of $1,200/ounce.

So long as we remain as in the dark with regard to Trump’s true economic and fiscal ambitions, all we have to go off of is commentary made by the Fed. As it stands it looks as though interest rate hikes are going to come this year, but when they are going to happen as well as how drastically rates will be hiked is something very few people have any insight on.

Jobless Claims Rise, Remain Below 300,000

As is the case every Thursday, investors from the US and around the world perked up at the prospect of the weekly jobless claims report. Despite rising dramatically a little more than a month ago, weekly claims for first-time unemployment benefits have remained in check since then.

As for the actual data this week, the Labor Department showed that last week brought about 10,000 more jobless claims than the week before. This means that the seasonally-adjusted average number of claims is now at 247,000. Though it is never good news to see the number of jobless claims tick upward, this week’s data did not show a rise that did anything to unnerve investors. After hitting a more than 40-year low last week, this week’s data was always going ot be able to withstand a slight increase. What’s more, as seasonal jobs end for people, it is likely that we will continue to see the number of claims rise week over week.

Wrap-Up

Precious metals on Thursday performed in about the same way they have all week long. Gold continued to hold its position above $1,200/ounce while silver continues to tread water—not really moving upward but not falling too dramatically either. As we head into the final day of the week, it will be interesting to see if precious metals can turn the first full week of 2017 trading into one with net gains. Regardless, both gold and silver are doing better now than they were barely a month and a half ago.