The gold held around $1,700 at the close in New York, Asia and in London. The morning Fix in London set it at $1,699.50 and in the euro at €1,285.358 just €2 higher, while the euro stood at €1: $1.3222 almost the same as yesterday. Ahead of New York’s opening it stood at $1,701 and in the euro €1,286.64 while the euro was at €1: $1.3220.

Silver ran ahead fast to open in London just under $34 in London. Ahead of New York’s opening it stood at $33.89.

Gold _{(very short-term)}

Gold is expected to continue to consolidate, in New York today.

Silver _{(very short-term)}

Silver will continue to consolidate, in New York today.

Price Drivers

85% acceptance of the horrific write down of Greece’s debt and Greece receives its bailout. That is until the next tranche is due, when E.U. leaders examine if Greece has done what it has done. In return Greece writes off over €100 billion of its debt. Will it get more? It all depends on the revenue that the Greek government can pull from Greek citizens. With Greeks tending to be allergic to paying taxes and with the last quarter showing a contraction of GDP at 7% [that is until the end of last year], we expect that economy to cross the 10% contraction line, making it a depression. Of course, government revenue is shrinking in line with this. We feel that their survival is reliant on an expansion of the economy. As a result, the euro did not jump at the news but held its level of yesterday. So did gold and silver in both the euro and the dollar. Recent history has shown that gold and silver falls on bad news from Greece and rises when the news appears good. But this is shortly to change as we mentioned earlier this week. Attention is now turning to the global scene which in line with the Fed’s view is uncertain. But gold will not reflect the overall global economic situation but mainly the emerging world’s economic situation. After all, this is where demand for gold and silver is coming from, mainly.

China meanwhile is seeing the impact of uncertainty on its exports, but is in a position to stimulate local growth and begin the inevitable change to self-sufficiency and becoming one of the global economy’s driving forces. The control the Chinese government has over its economy is considerably more than we see in the west. So we feel that Chinese gold demand will continue to grow irrespective of the troubles experienced in the developed world. Indeed, these troubles will continue to give a solid basis for the case for gold. [To get more of the right perspectives on the gold and silver markets and where gold and silver prices are going, subscribe through www.GoldForecaster.com or www.SilverForecaster.com].

Regards,

Julian D.W. Phillips for the Gold & Silver Forecasters