Gold is Up, Silver Continues its Rise
Good Monday morning, everyone! Welcome to Nuggets, your Monday morning column dedicated to all things concerning the world’s weekly economic outlook.We hope you had an awesome weekend!
It’s a busy week for markets, so let’s dig in.
In the top financial market news this week, look for the United State’s Federal Reserve’s FOMC minutes set for release on Wednesday afternoon and an OPEC meeting that begins Thursday. A jobs numbers report is expected today.
The dollar continues its now six-month depreciation track after seeing a rally of confidence in late 2016 following the US elections. Speaking of elections, President Trump’s full fiscal year 2018 budget is due out sometime this week.
The depreciation of the U.S. dollar has been bullish for the precious metals market. In today’s spot values, gold is up and silver continues its rise.
Today’s Spot Values
Gold is hanging around $1262/ounce (at time of publishing)
Silver is around 17.23/ounce (at time of publishing)
Platinum is at $942/ounce (at time of publishing)
Attention designers of coins and coin-like things
Fifty years after Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, the US Mint is asking artists to channel that same spirit as inspiration to design the obverse of the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin. The public competition is open through June 29, 2017.
On May 17, the Mint also released this year’s annual uncirculated coin packages. They include five quarters from the America the Beautiful Quarters” Program honoring Effigy Mounds National Monument (Iowa), Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (Washington, DC); Ozark National Scenic Riverways (Missouri), Ellis Island (Statue of Liberty National Monument) (New Jersey), and George Rogers Clark National Historical Park (Indiana).
Other coins include the usual suspects as well as “one Native American $1 Coin with a reverse design featuring a profiled likeness of Sequoyah writing ‘Sequoyah from Cherokee Nation’ in syllabary along the border of the design.”
In other small nugget news, did you know that America’s coinage was once backed by silver and gold? FDR moved us off the gold standard after the US Depression of 1929. Then, in the mid 1960s, Nixon moved us off the precious metals system for good and we’ve been clad ever since.
Silver can still be found in your change though! Here’s a quick reference to remember.
- Coins from 1964 and earlier (Dimes, Quarters, Half Dollars and Dollars) have 90 percent silver content.
- Half Dollars from 1965 to 1970 have 40 percent silver content.
- Nickels only had silver from 1942 to 1945, 35 percent.
- This was in connection to the rationing during WW2. Nickel was needed for the war effort, so for four short years, Nickels contained silver.
That’s all for this week’s Nugget News outlook. Have a great week everyone!