Eric Sepanek
SBC Founder
Eric Sepanek is the founder of Scottsdale Bullion & Coin, established in 2011. With extensive experience in the precious metals industry, he is dedicated to educating Americans on the wealth preservation power of gold and silver.
Gold has been steadily falling recently as more reports are released showing an improving U.S. economy and less news reports of tension between Russia and Ukraine. Since gold is traditionally used as a safe-haven investment in times of economic or political uncertainty, a currently stabilized world is having its effect.
US Spot Gold opened Thursday asking $1,259.06 an ounce. Through morning trading on Friday, gold was at a new 18-week low of $1,245.30 an ounce.
Throughout most of May 2014, when tensions between Russia and Ukraine peaked, gold held steady at around $1,300 an ounce. In the last few days however, Ukraine held successful presidential elections and Russia has shown a willingness to work with the newly elected government. Russia has also pulled back most of its troops from the border with Ukraine.
In addition to a stabilizing situation in Ukraine, a government report from May 27 showed that U.S. durable-goods orders unexpectedly rose in April, indicating manufacturing is gaining. These numbers could lead the Federal Reserve to decrease the bond-buying program. According to Bloomberg, last year, gold fell 28 percent on concern that the Federal Reserve would taper the pace of monetary stimulus as the economy rebounded. It seems a similar effect is occurring now.
Frank McGhee, the head dealer at Integrated Brokerage Services LLC in Chicago, told Bloomberg in a phone interview that, “The safe-haven premium is waning as people are gradually shrugging off worries about a slowdown in the U.S. Money continues to flow into equities.”
The situation in Eastern Europe is certainly not over and the U.S. economy is definitely not out of the woods, but for the time being, investors seem to be more comfortable with risk. They are steering away from safe-haven investments and putting their money in equities, leading to a steady drop in gold prices.