"Ground control to Chairman Powell - Commencing countdown, engines on -  Check ignition and may God’s love be with you" ---  David Bowie

Today both gold and silver gained fractional ground with gold as of 6:10 PM Eastern Standard Time fixed at $1763.90, after factoring in today’s gain of $1.90, or 0.11%. Silver gained $0.12 in trading today and basis the December futures contract is currently fixed at $22.65 which amounts to a percentage gain of 0.52%.

Gold closed lower today after three consecutive days of higher closes. Although gold gained value from Thursday until Monday, the major move occurred on Thursday when gold gained over $30. Friday’s gains were fractional, and Monday’s gains were respectable, but both days were dwarfed by the strong upside gains seen on Thursday.

Ever since Thursday of last week, when gold closed over $30 higher prices have advanced. Although Friday’s gains were fractional, follow-through buying today took gold to its highest closing price since Wednesday, September 22. On that day gold closed at approximately $1778, thus completing three days of moderate to strong gains which began on Monday, September 20.

Editor’s note: This is possibly one of the most important shows that we have produced this year and differs very much from the opening letter.

A multitude of factors resulted in a strong upside move in gold, gaining a little over 2% on the day. Today, Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary of the United States, testified before the House Financial Services Committee. During her testimony, she made a dire prediction if the United States cannot meet its debt obligations.

A surging U.S. dollar continues to pressure gold resulting in a further price decline. Yesterday the dollar index closed at the highest level this year, and today the dollar rally continued and resulted in a new record high for the year. As of 4:30 PM EDT, the U.S. dollar index is up by+0.68% and gold futures are down by -0.68%.

Gold has been and continues to trade under pressure. Now for the fourth week in a row (even though it’s only Tuesday), gold prices have declined, with the weekly chart showing gold has traded to a lower low and a lower high for the last four consecutive weeks.

The gold market will continue to keep its focus on the Federal Reserve. The recent FOMC meeting statement and updated monetary policy in regards to interest rates have contained any large moves in gold. The net result of a more hawkish Fed has resulted in a major uptick in the yields of 10-year Treasury notes, which is also supportive of the U.S. dollar.

Gold prices ended the week with little change on the day, and little change when compared to last Friday’s close. Gold futures basis the most active December 2021 contract is currently fixed at $1750.60, which is a net gain of $0.80 (+0.05%) on the day. Gold futures did trade with a lower high and a higher low when compared to yesterday’s trading range.