Gold Spot Price Open: $1,327

Gold Spot Price Close: $1,318

Change in Gold Spot Price: -$9

Silver Spot Price Open: $19.23

Silver Spot Price Close: $18.84

Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.39

Precious metals got the week off to a poor start thanks to some stronger US economic data and the Deutsche Bank situation heading to the back-burner of the marketplace’s attention. When all was said and done, gold lost about 4 dollars while silver declined by almost 40 cents. Platinum and palladium also got the week off to poor starts, with platinum losing over 20 dollars while palladium lost a little more than 10.

Upbeat ISM PMI Data Dealt

Precious metals were doomed to losses from the jump on Monday thanks to some stronger economic data from the United States. According to the Institute for Supply Management, the manufacturing sector of the US economy seems to be back on track and heading for expansion. The official Purchasing Manager’s Index reading for September came back at 51.5%. This is up from a reading of right around 49% in August and gives many investors—especially those who would like to see interest rates raised before year’s end—reason to think that the manufacturing sector is headed for sustained improvement.

For those who may have limited PMI experience, any reading above 50 shows that the sector of the economy in question is growing. In addition to manufacturing activity picking up, hiring in the manufacturing sector is also beginning to improve. Though the ISM employment index for the month of September bested that of August’s (49.7% vs. 48.3%), the labor market is still in contraction territory.

The lack of manufacturing jobs in the United States is a huge point of contention for this presidential election, so this is assuredly not the last we will be hearing of this.

Deutsche Bank, Non-Farms Payrolls Take Center Stage

Though we are not talking about the Deutsche Bank situation today, it is highly likely that it will dominate the headlines going forward. What is more immediately important to investors, however, is the non-farm payrolls report from the United States, which is due out this upcoming Friday. According to one of the biggest banks in the US, Brown Brothers Harriman, “Despite being a noisy, high-frequency time series subject to significant revisions, this report–like none other–can drive expectations of Fed policy.”

At this point there is a large contingent expecting to see a rate hike in December, but even that is far from being set in stone. For the time being, investors are picking apart just about every piece of economic data they receive in order to see just how strong the US economy is. If you ask any member of the Fed, the consensus is that the US economy is very strong. But when asked about raising rates, we hear time and time again that it is not yet quite strong enough to justify a rate hike. So the question becomes, what gives? This week is sure to deliver a boatload of economic data, but with the Fed unwilling to act on it, all we get are the temporary reactions from investors and nothing else.

Right now, most are anticipating that September was a solid month for job growth, and if that does prove to be the case we might see gold and silver continue to trend downward.

Wrap-Up

Despite the release of some economic data, Monday was mostly quiet in the US and across the globe. Things will more than likely pick up over the coming days as more and more vital pieces of info are made public. For now, however, precious metals have very little pushing them forward, and this will only grow truer so long as the tone of US economic data remains positive this week.