No News Means - No News

In a very light news day, gold and silver find themselves trading just up or slightly down, respectively.

 There is some support from the ongoing crisis in the Crimea, and in the seemingly softer and softer data that keeps issuing from the Chinese economy. The only thing different regarding China right now is that, because gold prices have pushed higher since China's last data releases, gold speculators in the red giant aren't leaping into the market as a haven play.

Interestingly, oil is down not quite 1.5% on the day, uncoupled from gold, which usually trades in tandem with our basic fuel commodity.

Early in the session, gold traded lower, extending Friday's weakness after the strong February U.S. jobs report. The market later fought off those initial losses as investors turned their focus to that report from China that showed the world's second-largest economy took a surprise tumble in exports in February.  

With formerly hectic diplomacy at a standstill, gold did not respond to scant news about the worst standoff between Russia and the West since the fall of the Berlin Wall. On Monday, Russia said the United States had spurned an invitation to hold new talks aimed at resolving the Ukraine crisis. Details of the invitation are not yet public.

"Provided there is no escalation in the Ukraine crisis, there's no urgency for fresh buyers to enter at current price," said Edel Tully, precious metals strategist at UBS.

Tully also said gold's ability to hold above key lows despite strong U.S. jobs data Friday suggests gold traders and investors should hold onto bullish positions a bit longer.

While copper rarely comes into our fundamentals equation, it should be noted that the industrial metal has been taking a beating as of late. That should be considered a headwind for gold to a small degree and for silver to a much larger degree. Silver, because of its hybrid nature as a manufacturing commodity and as a store of value, will acutely feel a manufacturing slowdown in China, the second largest industrial economy in the world. Positive manufacturing news out of the U.S., Germany, France and other E.U. countries, however, should have a mitigating effect.

Right now, we await news that can move the precious metals markets.

As always, wishing you good trading,