Good Morning,
A whole lot of nothing…That’s what the general consensus seems to be regarding yesterday’s release of FOMC minutes from the most recent meeting of the Fed minds. There’s no question that tapering will eventually happen but the “sooner or later” part of the equation has yet to be solved. All calculus, trigonometry and algebra aside, the simple sum of whether the job market is healthy and inflation reaches an optimum level will continue to be the proverbial trip wire for the beginning of the end of Quantitative Easing. After the dust settled, 10-year bond yields had surged to 2.9% and the DJIA had lost over 100 points by the end of the session. Gold closed the day at $1370.6 and now trades at the day’s high of $1374.8. The rest of the complex is in the green to start the day as will with silver up nearly 1% while platinum trades at $1523, having reached as high as $1529, and palladium hovering just below $750 an ounce. In domestic economic happenings, the weekly U.S. jobless claims increased 13,000 to 336,000 and while that is not necessarily a good sign, some critics would argue that because the more accurate four-week average stands at 330,500 and overall jobless claims remain near the lowest levels seen in more than 5 years, that employment may be poised for a comeback. We’ll see about that on September 6th. U.S. manufacturing pushed further into expansion territory this month as data from Markit showed the index moved to 53.9 from 53.7 last month. Jackson Hole gets underway today and central bankers from around the globe will converge on the site to hear what Janet Yellen, the likely successor to Chairman Bernanke, has to say about the current state of affairs. Have a great day!
Tom Hungerford
Heraeus Metals New York LLC
