The Fed announced the extension of “Operation Twist” on Wednesday

The Fed announced the extension of “Operation Twist” on Wednesday, The central banks swapping of short term bonds for longer term bonds in an effort to drive down long-term interest rates and ignite a fire under the sluggish economy. However, weak economic data over the past few weeks was not weak enough to get Mr. Bernanke to bust out the big gun, QE3. The markets were somewhat perplexed that QE3 was not mentioned and sold off shortly after the report leaving many scratching their heads since QE3 was not widely anticipated in the first place. Although equities have since rebounded the precious metals complex remains under pressure as gold is down more than  2% in early trading followed by silver which is down more than 3%. Platinum and palladium are following the downtrend but at a bit slower pace. Perhaps some of the pressure is from reports that China’s PMI has fallen to 48.1 in June. Readings below 50 indicate contractions. First-time jobless claims in the U.S. were relatively unchanged coming in at 387,000 (up 7,000 from the week before). Investors will await existing home sales date that is due out at 10 a.m. ET. Have a great day!

 

 

Metals	Last	%Change	Low	High
Au-Aug	1582.4	-2.07%	1581.5	1608.2
Pt-Jul	1454.2	-0.80%	1448.5	1462.4
Pd-Sep	616.2	-0.53%	614.40	620.80
Ag-Jul	27.485	-3.17%	27.445	28.070
London	AM	PM	Minor	PGMs
Au	1600		Rh	1250
Pt	1457	1457	Ru	115
Pd	617	617	Ir	1100
Ag	27.88	DJI	12834.53	10.14
Currencies
	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP
USD	0	1.2635	0.012465	1.5668
EUR	0.7916	0	0.9865	1.2401
JPY	80.24	101.38	0	125.717
GBP	0.6383	0.80641	0.7956	0
Crude Brent	92.31	Comex Copper	332.9
Crude WTI	80.6	Nat Gas	2.533
*THESE PRICES ARE FOR INDICATION ONLY CALL FOR QUOTES