Gold and silver are trading up on Tuesday, mostly because of bargain-hunting buying after spot values took a dive towards the end of last week. Despite today being a quieter day as far as economic data is concerned, the marketplace still has the crisis in Ukraine to fixate their attention on as tensions seem to be picking back up.
The citizens of Crimea will be voting on whether to remain part of Ukraine or rejoin the Russian Federation in a little less than a week’s time, and the world is gearing up for the worst should the overwhelming majority decide to rejoin Russia. Only a short time ago it seemed like this crisis would be ended through civil means, but now it is looking more like a violent outcome is inevitable.
Crisis In Ukraine Nearing Tipping Point, Again
Only a week ago, the world was beginning to believe that the crisis in Ukraine would be able to be solved through diplomacy and peaceful means. Over the weekend, however, that belief was dealt a significant blow as video reports from a number of different sources showed caravans of unmarked, pro-Russian forces moving further into the Crimea region of Ukraine.
Along the way, many of the aforementioned Russian forces were reported as taking over and clearing out buildings and compounds thought to be controlled by, populated by pro-Ukrainian people. As Russia seems to have been tightening its grip on Crimea, the world and its leaders are voicing their opposition. In the US, there were a number of anti-Russia, anti-Putin rallies over the weekend as US-Ukrainians fear for the future of their families overseas.
If this situation does boil over into armed conflict over the course of the next few days, spot gold and silver will almost assuredly be given a boost by a revival of safe-haven demand.
In other news, economic data due for release in the US today includes the most recent Goldman Sachs retails sales report as well as the weekly Johnson Redbook report. While these are the only US economic reports worth talking about today, neither of them are expected to have any major impact on the spot values of gold and silver.
