Gold: a review of the market situation

Gold prices rose markedly, breaking the $ 1270 level, which is associated with the publication of data on the growth of the US economy, which were worse than expected.

As previously reported, the gross domestic product grew at an annual rate in the fourth quarter by 2.6%, the Commerce Department reported Friday. The economy grew by 5% in the third quarter and 4.6% in the second quarter after a reduction in the first three months of the year. Economists had expected growth in the fourth quarter by 3.3%. The report reflected the uneven economic recovery. Consumers - to support the growing number of jobs and lower prices for gasoline - increased spending at the end of 2014 at the fastest pace in almost nine years. But business investment has slowed to the lowest rates, government spending fell, and export growth declined. For 2014 as a whole, GDP increased by 2.4%, only slightly better than the average growth of 2010-2013, reflecting a moderate rate compared with previous periods of growth of 2.2%. In the 1990s, the economy grew by an average of 3.4% per year.

As investors react to the words of the chairman of the US Federal Reserve Janet Yellen that the central bank will be patient in the issue of rising interest rates. "Janet Yellen said that it will soon raise interest rates is expected. Gold and silver rebounded slightly in price," - said Nur al-Hammour, expert ADS Securities.

At the same time, some experts remain negative view of long-term prospects of gold. "We are again more pessimistic about short-term prospects of gold. With regard to the longer-term prospects for gold and silver we maintain a negative outlook due to consistent economic recovery," - says Carsten Menke, an analyst at Julius Baer.

Support prices also have expectations of the launch of the ECB QE. "The most important factor for the precious metals in the coming year - a significant increase in liquidity due to the ECB, and the US economy will have all the time to improve performance to attract investors' funds. The question is whether the US is able to maintain the current growth rate, given the slow growth of wages," - said analyst Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Victor Tyanpiriya. According to him, by the end of the year gold would cost $ 1,280 per ounce.

The cost of the February gold futures on the COMEX today rose to 1272.20 dollars per ounce.