Silver and Gold Down

Precious metals retreated over the last 24 hours amid worries of a falling dollar, speculation that the fed will most certainly raise interest rates, and shaky news from the middle east.

Even though the dollar is lowering the feds news that interest rates are going to be rising again put a stop to any short lived rebound that was seen in both Gold and Silver as of this week. The rising interest rates are in hopes to curb inflation that has been running rampid over the past few quarters.

The Fed’s news also comes at a time when global central banks are said to also be looking into raising key interest rates to reduce inflation and also the skyrocketing commodities prices that the world has seen over the last half year. This would mean lower prices for commodities and hurt some of the newer funds that started this year to cash in on the precious metals climb. Most notably, iShares Silver Trust (SLV:AMEX) and StreetTracks Gold Trust (GLD:NYSE) which lost 2.43 and 0.60 respectively in the days trading.

Other notables being hit today on the uncertain economic outlook and threats of interest rate hikes was Market Vectors Gold miners ETF (GDX: AMEX) and Glamis Gold Ltd (GLG:NYSE). GLG however was big news Wednesday when it announced it was doubling gold reserves and the price jumped from 31 to 34 in early morning trading.

Other news to watch out for as the precious metals market continues to rock back and forth is the possible nuclear missile testing being done by North Korea and the continued enriching of uranium by Iran. Both of these tense topics may keep precious metals at the highs we are seeing and if even a few of the worlds banks decide to forgo any interest rate hikes silver and gold could come charging back towards the end of the year.