by Alasdair MacLeod
Gold Money
The end of August saw an options expiry plus a month-end, both factors leading to lower prices.
But despite the Labor Day holiday on Monday, which kept trade quiet this week, precious metal prices rose strongly, before some consolidation set in on Wednesday. Gold had risen from $1310 the previous Friday to a high of $1352, before drifting off to $1336 in early European trade this morning. Silver bottomed at $18.75, and rallied to $20.13 before drifting off to $19.52 on the same time-scale.
Pundits with little else to say tell us that September is traditionally a good month for gold. Nice to hear, but as they say, past performance is no guide for the future. But with August’s dog days behind us and the holiday season as well, investors are likely to give market valuations more attention. The rally in precious metal prices this week was entirely logical, as was some profit-taking in the second half.