Gold, Silver punished by stronger USDX…

Wednesday at lunchtime U.S. trading, gold and silver prices are sharply lower. Today saw a nine-week low for gold and a 2.5-month low for silver. As the U.S. dollar index was considerably higher and crude oil prices were lower towards the middle of the week,

the major external markets were in a bearish daily posture for the metals markets. Last seen at $1,842.00, April gold was down $23.30 and March silver was down $0.333.Following a U.S.

consumer price index report on Tuesday that was just barely over market forecasts, the market is a little uneasy at this point in the week.

Additionally, the U.S. data point of the day on Wednesday showed that retail sales increased 3.0% more than anticipated in January compared to December.

The report was predicted to increase by 1.9% after falling by 1.1% from November to December.

The takeaway from Tuesday’s CPI report and today’s retail sales data appears to be that the Federal Reserve has more heavy lifting to do in the coming months to slow down the U.S. economy and crimp consumer and commercial demand to get inflation down to the level the Fed desires, which is around 2% annually.This Thursday is the U.S. producer price index report day. In terms of the worldwide demand for metals, this scenario is gloomy.

International stock markets were mixed overnight, with European shares generally rising and Asian equities mostly falling. At lunchtime, U.S. stock indexes are down.