Small gains for bullions

Turkey-Russia conflict pushes prices higher

Bullion prices ended little higher at Comex on Tuesday, 24 November 2015. News reports that Turkish jets shot down a Russian military aircraft put a modest bid into the safe-haven gold market on Tuesday. Short covering and bargain hunting were also featured after gold prices recently hit a 5.5-year low.

February Comex gold was up $6.50 at $1,073.20 an ounce. March Comex silver was up $0.114 at $14.175 an ounce.

There was risk aversion in the marketplace on Tuesday as reports said a Russian warplane was shot down by Turkey's military. The Russian jet was near the Syrian border when Turkish fighter jets shot it down. World stock markets were pressured and U.S. Treasuries were lifted on the Turkey-Russia conflict.

There was an important U.S. economic report just out. The second estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product. The GDP figure came in at up 2.1% versus the last estimate of up 1.5%. The latest reading was right in line with market expectations and had very little impact on the marketplace. There was a downward revision, though, to personal consumption expenditures, which increased 3.0% versus a previously estimated 3.2%.

Separately, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index checked in at 90.4 for November, which was down sharply from an upwardly revised 99.1 reading for October (from 97.6) and well below the consensus estimate, which stood at 99.6. The downturn was driven by a drop in both the Present Situation Index (from 114.6 to 108.1) and the Expectations Index (from 88.7 to 78.6) The September Case-Shiller 20-City Index rose 5.5% (consensus +5.2%) to follow the previous increase of 5.1%.

Traders and investors are still awaiting the mid-December FOMC meeting and anticipating the first U.S. interest rate increase in nine years.

Trading activity in the U.S. markets is likely to wind down quickly on Wednesday, due to the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Friday is typically one of the slowest U.S. trading days of the year.

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