Silver prices started the week up slightly from Friday’s close at $17.08 and spent Monday above the psychologically important $17.00 level to close at $17.06. The price of silver surged to open up at $17.11, but this was the high for the day, and prices slipped to close at $16.86. Wednesday opened at $16.85 and closed at $16.57. The downward pressure continued in afterhours trading, and Thursday opened with silver prices at $16.50; then the pullback continued during the day, albeit in fits and starts, to close at $16.44. The less mono-directional trading on Thursday was an indicator that the pullback was running out of steam, and sure enough on Friday, after opening at $16.39 and slipping a bit in early trading, live silver prices got on the move again to close up at $16.44 for the week.
On Monday, gold and silver alike made news as prices for the two metals rose against the trend set by oil prices, usually the leader in the commodities complex. 1 In the morning in New York that day, gold peaked to $1,299.20, closing the day up .46 percent. Silver saw a high of $17.17 before closing .12 percent up.
The same day, the Trump administration scored a major win as a federal judge tossed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s legal challenge to Mick Mulvaney’s appointment to head the agency. The CFPB is part of the executive branch and thus the appointment of its head by the president would not normally be challenged by the agency itself. Mulvaney is a huge proponent of precious metals investing and owns large quantities of physical gold and silver, as well as stocks in several mining corporations. 2
Finally, the administration ended the week with another win as the Senate passed the GOP tax plan by a vote of 51-49 at 2 a.m. Saturday morning, getting the GOP one step closer to its most significant legislative achievement of the year. The Senate and the House now need to hash out the differences in their bills before Congress goes on its scheduled break on December 15. 3 While initially the passage of the tax plan has resulted in a pullback in precious metals prices, its long-term economic implications point to a dollar crash and flight to safe haven assets.