According to the Finance Minister of Greece, Athens has met all the requirements needed to get another loan for the EU/ECB/IMF. The Greek government has found the way to save extra €325M in order to fulfill the task, which implies €3.3B spending cuts. Now Greece is looking forward to another meeting of eurozone minfins scheduled for Feb 20th, during which the ministers will decide whether to provide Athens with another substantial loan.
In the meantime, the eurozone economic stats can reassure investors: the union’s trade balance came out much better than expected while the GDP decline in Q4 2011 was less considerable than expected.
Moody’s Investors Service threatens to cut the ratings of the world’s biggest banks, including UBS, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, а Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and Citigroup.
The Shanghai futures will lower the margin requirements for gold by 10-15% since March 1st in order to boost the turnover.
Iran has recently shown the world its own nuclear fuel elements for the nuclear research center in Teheran.
Amid the uncertainty and risks caused by the situation in the eurozone and Iran, gold and silver have been traded in a narrow range over the last 2 weeks.
Forecast:
According to the Department of Commodity Trading of , the closest level of resistance is 1725. A test of 1728-1729.5, is probable. Once the price consolidates above the area, it will get a chance to rally up to 1750. Otherwise, the price will probably retrace down to 1718-1720, 1710, 1700.
33.4-33.45 is the closest resistance area for silver. A further rally will be probable only if the price consolidates above 33.45. The closest targets are 33.70, 33.90. Otherwise, the price may well go down to 33.10, 33.0, and even 32.75.
