Heavy gold selling this morning has spread the contagion into the other metals.

Heavy gold selling this morning has spread the contagion into the other metals. Platinum is suffering the most down over 1.6% with silver right on its tail. Meanwhile palladium is behaving like a rock and not moving at all. Market behavior today is very odd as the bond market is higher indicating a belief of lower interest rates to come and Consumer Confidence is reported higher adding pressure to the group. Meanwhile the Case-Schiller Home Price Index was slightly lower than expected and continues to indicate a weak Real Estate market. The gold chart is still holding in bullish territory which may  be a signal that this may be a better deal than Filene’s basement. The drop seems to be losing its momentum in gold meanwhile platinum and silver look to be on weak legs. Might be a good idea to sit back and wait for the volatility to slow.

The Bank of Japan kept its key interest rate at -.1% as expected.

The Bank of Japan kept its key interest rate at -.1% as expected. This leaves the Federal Reserve room if in fact they believe the US economy is strong enough for a rate hike. Recent economic data however would tend to indicate that this afternoon we are unlikely to see any change from the current base. Ahead of the afternoon’s announcement we are seeing steady buying in the precious metals sector. Silver and palladium are making strides to the upside and silver looks like it is getting ready to target its next resistance level to the upside of 20.12 while palladium will need a close above 687 to pave the way back over the 700 level. Platinum is also looking to follow and try to regain a foothold above the 1100 price level. Gold the much more liquid and less volatile of the group will likely continue the party by testing as high as 1367 if it closes above 1334 today. However all this goes out the window if the Fed makes a move at its announcement at 2 PM EST.

The precious metals markets are recovering from Friday’s sell off.

The precious metals markets are recovering from Friday’s sell off. Of the most significant is Palladium which is up over 2.5% and looking very firm though there is no extra-fundamental news . After having hit what a appeared to be a rock bottom price of 650 last week it has turned around and if it closes above 687 today will represent technically a turn around. Gold has been holding above the 100 day moving average of 1306 and may target 1324 in the near future. Of course the market is still waiting for the Fed’s rate decision this Wednesday. But of almost equal importance will be the Bank of Japan’s announcement on Tuesday evening 11PM EST. If BOJ were to lower it may be another signal that the Fed may not be able to move anytime soon.