Every party has a party pooper

Every party has a party pooper, someone who just sucks all the fun out of the place. In this particular instance, that person was James Bullard, Head of the St. Louis Federal Reserve. After Wednesday’s surprise announcement that the Federal Reserve would not begin QE tapering and the subsequent rally, in both the equities space as well as the precious complex, Mr. Bullard took to the spotlight on Friday and, for lack of a better term, killed the mood. His indications that the recent vote to begin tapering was very close and his statements that the Fed could start the process in October, should economic data improve, had the precious metals giving back much of their gains by market close on Friday. The precious complex remains under pressure to start the day with gold down nearly 1% after closing the previous session at $1332.50. Silver is down nearly 1% as well while platinum trades off roughly $7 and palladium  trades 1.5% lower. In global economic news, HSBC’s “flash” index showed manufacturing activity pushing further into expansion territory. The reading came in at 51.2 after the previous months reading of 51.1. Eurozone PMI, as reported by Markit, also improved and come in at 51.5, up from last month’s 52.1. It should be a rather quiet day as market participants look to position themselves for the upcoming debt ceiling battle in Washington. Have a great day!