Market Recap 12/18/09

Despite skepticism about the stock market’s strength, precious metal and energy stocks led the way for a brief early-week rally. This short rally helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ Composite Index to reach new highs for the year, though worries continue about the stability of the global financial system. Prolonged U.S. housing market woes and continued high unemployment remain at the forefront of most recovery doubts for investors. According to MarketWatch, The Labor Department released reports midweek showing a second consecutive week of rising unemployment claims. Initial claims jumped 7,000 to 480,000, which was more than analysts had expected.

The Federal Reserve decided, yet again, to leave key interest rates unchanged at record low levels. The Fed’s rate-making body, the Federal Open Market Committee, left the target for its key federal funds rate at zero to 0.25%. However, the Central Bank did hint of expectations that interest rates will move up though no timetable for this action was given. The short early week stock market rally faded quickly after this announcement from the Fed.

A recent poll of 34 analysts, conducted by Reuters earlier this month, predicts Gold prices to stay firm in 2010. HSBC and Bank of America Merrill Lynch lifted their Gold forecasts this week. Daniel Major with RBS Global Banking & Markets said, “There are still fears of a spike in inflation in the background, as well as further uncertainty over the state of the economic recovery.”

As we move towards the end of the year, the demand for precious metals seems to be heating up as many investors are still highly concerned about inflation and the general state of the economy. Visit www.APMEX.com today and let us assist you in securing hard assets for your portfolio.

Gold:
Spot Gold prices opened this week at $1,114.40. The high during the week was on Thursday, December 17th, at $1,142.10, while the low for the week occurred on the same day, at $1,095.30. Gold ended the week down $0.80 at $1,113.60. This week, 2009 1/10 oz. American Gold Eagles, 2009 1 oz. BU Gold American Eagles and APMEX .9999+ Fine 1 gram Gold Bars were quite popular.

Silver:
Spot Silver prices opened this week at $17.18. Silver reached a high of $17.78 on Wednesday, December 16th while the low for Silver occurred on Friday, December 18th, at $17.05. Silver ended the week up $0.14 at $17.32. This week, 2009 1 oz. Silver American Eagles, 2010 1 oz. Canadian Silver Maple Leafs and 2010 1 oz. Silver Vancouver Canadian Maple Leafs were very popular with investors and collectors alike.

Platinum:
Spot Platinum prices opened this week at $1,432.00 and ended the week up $0.70 at $1,432.70. Investors continue to purchase 1 oz. Pamp Suisse Platinum Bars, 1 oz. Platinum American Eagles and 1/10 oz. Platinum American Eagles, though quantities of these products are becoming quite scarce.

Palladium:
Spot Palladium prices opened this week at $366.15 and ended the week up $4.75 at $370.90. Popular Palladium products this week included 1 oz. Random Year Palladium Canadian Maple Leafs and 10 oz. Pamp Suisse Palladium Bars.

Numismatics:
After weeks of rising Gold prices, the momentum has slowed and seems to have leveled off as it is now hovering around the $1,100 per ounce mark. APMEX is continually adding to its inventory in order to meet the steady demand. The desire for all Gold products as well as Pre-1933 U.S. Gold has intensified. For more information on Pre-1933 U.S. Gold or the Gold American Eagle please watch our videos for those products posted on our website at www.APMEX.com.

APMEX continues to feature Silver Dollars and this week we will look at a coin that is sometimes forgotten. The 1894-O Morgan Silver Dollar was not struck until July 1894; however, once started, production was steady through December. With a mintage of 1.7 million pieces, this coin is relatively common, except in higher grades. These coins come with an above average strike and above average luster. Finding a mint state example with few bag marks, a strong strike, and above average luster is certainly a rare and rewarding find. Because of its generally dull appearance, the 1894-O is often overlooked.

The Treasury released bags of 1894-O Silver Dollars beginning in the 1950’s and continued those releases all the way up to 1964. Although there were multiple obverse and reverse dies used to produce these silver dollars, no major die varieties are attributed to this particular date and mintmark. Nonetheless, the 1894-O Morgan Silver Dollar is still a coin worth considering for your collection.