19th February 2017

 Gold prices lost about 6/ounce on Friday. Silver fell by $.09/ounce, but we saw more substantial declines in both platinum and palladium. Base metals also retreated, while oil prices ended flat in what was an unusually quiet end to the week for most complexes. Despite Friday’s drop in gold, the precious metal remains close to its recent multi-month highs. It’s resilience is all the more impressive considering that US equities are setting record after record, while the dollar is also fairly strong, having gained ground against most currencies for a second consecutive week. What also seems to be giving gold some support, is the fact that there are a myriad of political and economic uncertainties that lie ahead in 2017, arguably much more so than in recent years. As a result, the fund community is not keen to get too short gold lest any of these events turn into the next potential” “Black Swan”.