Silver Market Morning

Gold Today – The gold price continued to recover and opened in Asia above $1,590 with a steady euro. In London it was Fixed at $1,592.50 and in the euro at €1,201.89, while the euro was $1.3250. Ahead of New York’s opening, gold was $1,591.00 and in the euro at €1,195.96.

Silver Today – Silver closed at $28.68 in New York on Friday. Ahead of New York’s opening silver stood at $29.06.

Gold _{(very short-term)}

We expect gold to consolidate ready to tackle the $1,600 level, in New York today.

Silver _{(very short-term)}

We expect silver to continue to recover, in New York today.

Price Drivers

Gold & Silver – We have an answer to the question, “Have gold & silver hit a bottom?” The gold price is recovering as the news out of the east side of the Atlantic worsens. The recovery is not simply the rocket recovery that usually follows traders and speculators changing positions to the long side, but a broad spectrum of demand from different sources. This gives the recovery a solid footing now.

The U.K. has been downgraded after a year of warnings from the ratings agencies due to poor growth prospects and rising debt levels. We fear something much bigger than poorer growth is developing in the developed world overall.

In Italy we are waiting to see if there will be a strong enough government to really rule or will we see a repeat of the past and a government that fails to gain the confidence of outsiders. If this is the case then the euro will lose confidence and begin weakening again.

We have seen a separation of the euro from gold for several months now. We have always said that while gold moves inversely to the dollar, it should not move with the euro. It has moved inversely to all currencies and reflects the falling confidence in currencies per se.

But across the Atlantic the March 1^st start of automatic spending cuts is here at the end of this week. Will this lower the dollar with the euro and the euro/dollar exchange rate barely move? [Subscribe to our newsletters at www.GoldForecaster.com and www.SilverForecaster.com]

Silver –The silver price is recovering with gold. What is remarkable with silver now is that the silver ETF, the Silver Trust, has seen a rise of nearly 200 tonnes while the price was falling while the gold ETF’ we follow fell nearly 60 tonnes over the same period!

Regards,

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