Gold Spot Price Open: $1,331

Gold Spot Price Close: $1,335

Change in Gold Spot Price: +$4

Silver Spot Price Open: $20.45

Silver Spot Price Close: $20.37

Change in Silver Spot Price: -$0.08

Gold and silver experienced mixed results on Friday, but what little price movement did occurr was mostly negligible. Gold gained roughly four dollars on the day, while silver declined by nearly a dime. As far as bad weeks go, this was by far gold and silver’s worst so far this year.

Due to reduced spot values, we have already begun to see some bargain-hunting buyers make their way back into the marketplace. It is likely that bargain-hunters will grow in number over the weekend and push metals forward, even if only slightly.

There are few major events to look forward to next week, but with the situation in Ukraine still simmering on the back burner the market has something to preoccupy itself with. We have heard reports of an increased military buildup on Russia’s side of the Russian-Ukrainian border, but no one is convinced or worried that it will develop into anything significant.

Stocks have since recovered from their decline on Wednesday in the wake of Yellen’s somewhat bearish statements with regard to raising interest rates next spring, but are still shaky. While gold and silver have had a week they would like to quickly forget, the US Dollar performed significantly better during this 5-day session than it did a week ago.

Further hurting spot gold and silver is the lack of physical buying in China due to a weak yuan currency. Today, the yuan hit a more than 12-month low and is still in pretty dismal shape. The crisis in Ukraine will undoubtedly continue to keep the attention of the marketplace, but as this situation worsens, investors will more readily keep their eyes fixated on China’s economic and financial systems, both of which have been called into question recently.