Gold got taken down from the far East through to the New York open yesterday, bottoming at $932, but rose slowly and steadily through the NYMEX and Globex to finish at $945.30/oz., up $5.60. Overnight, gold has edged lower.

Platinum continued to trade tightly rangebound, staying inside $2050-2070 all day, and ending near the low end at $2055/oz., down $10. Overnight, platinum has slipped lower.

Silver’s decline was shorter and less pronounced than gold’s, as it bounced off of $17.90 an hour before New York opened and began to climb, eventually reaching $18.40 before easing slightly to close at $18.37/oz., up 28 cents. Overnight, silver has been flat.
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Once again platinum spun its wheels, but both gold and silver followed Tuesday’s gains with another strong day yesterday.

The usual suspects did their part yesterday, as oil pushed to new highs and the dollar continued to slide.

But perhaps labor issues played in. As the Hightower Report wrote: “July silver pushed above yesterday’s highs and was threatening the May 26th high of 18.375 by the end of the session. In addition to finding support from outside market forces like the weak dollar and soaring commodity prices which make silver an attractive alternative investment, the growing number of mines going out on strike also lent support.

Reports that workers at two more mines in Peru threatened to go out on strike lent support as well. While the latest struck mines primarily produce copper, zinc and gold, the strike action in general appears to be spreading across all types of mines, which implies silver could be affected as well. Peru is the world largest producer of silver.”

Of gold, Kitco’s Jon Nadler wrote that, “Another stab at the $947 to $950 zone could be in the cards, barring a selling bout in oil, or the opposite in the dollar.”

Nadler added that, “Bullion remains fairly well-supported near the $920 and $930 marks at the moment, as participants factor in a small ECB rate hike … and little in the way of a Fed response to inflationary pressures in the near term.”

Meanwhile, platinum and palladium have been struggling, especially in the wake of the plunge in U.S. auto sales in June.

“The noble metal cannot ignore the scary numbers coming from auto dealer lots in the U.S. — the worst in a decade,” Nadler wrote. “Every car not sold could eventually result in a car not produced and a few less grams of platinum, palladium, rhodium not taken from the market.”
Source: Gold, Silver Continue to Push Higher, Platinum Lags on Depressed Auto Sales