Today’s AM fix was USD 1,276.00, EUR 951.25 and GBP 798.75 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,281.00, EUR 956.90 and GBP 807.03 per ounce.
Gold fell $14.60 or 1.14% yesterday, closing at $1,268.90/oz. Silver slid $0.61 or 2.86% closing at $20.75. Platinum rose $1.16 or 0.1% to $1,429.40/oz, while palladium fell $14.01 or 1.9% to $737.43/oz.
Gold rose slightly after dipping to a four week low in the last trading session. However, the gold price remains subject to downward pressure as investors are still wondering when the U.S. Fed will begin tapering its stimulus program. December is being muted as a possible tapering start date but as we have seen in recent months, the speculation has been incorrect and QE continued as before. [6]
In other news, Janet Yellen is appearing before the U.S. Senate banking committee today for her nomination hearing to become the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve and to receive her official licence to print.
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Gold in USD, 5 Year - (Bloomberg)
In 1997, the US Tax Payer Relief Act made it possible for precious metals to be added to Individual Retirement Account (IRA) accounts. This includes gold, silver and platinum. An IRA is a form of "individual retirement plan", provided by many financial institutions, that provides tax advantages for retirement savings in the United States.
A Self-Directed IRA or 401(k) is governed by the same set of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules and regulations as a conventional retirement IRA, with the main exception being that conventional IRAs do not allow for diversification into precious metals because of the special circumstances related to ownership: precious metals require professional storage/vaulting, insurance and specialized custodial responsibilities.
The decision to apportion retirement savings into gold and other precious metals is being taken by an increasing number of US citizens who understand that the value of the US dollar is being silently eroded by inflation. Indeed, as we get older, the real rate of inflation is much higher as the key financial outgoings – health insurance, home heating and groceries - are much, much higher than the official rate of inflation.
Self-directed IRAs permit a wide range of gold investments to be included. GoldCore cautions against investing in any paper gold product as it is very different to and more high risk than investing in physical gold. Paper gold includes gold futures, gold futures options, some gold ETFs, certain forms of unallocated gold ownership, pool accounts, contracts for difference (CFDs), spread betting contracts, gold stocks and/or gold options.
Self-directed retirement schemes with a gold and/or precious metals allocation are a powerful retirement planning tool and considering the continuing financial malaise affecting the U.S., they will continue to offer a genuine long-term savings option.
Click here for our guide to Putting Gold In Your Pension Plan in the USA. [8]
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