Gold and silver started Tuesday mildly down after both metals had made impressive gains only a day ago. After the marketplace digested what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had to say last week, it turned out that his remarks were beneficial to both gold and silvers’ spot values.

This week is set to be one with few major economic news stories and thus, apart from Monday, it is not anticipated that gold or silver will be making any major moves. While this seems like a fair assessment, no one can ever be too sure about where the spot values of precious metals are going to go.

Bernanke Addresses US Congress

Last week might as well be a whole year ago as far as investing is concerned, but remarks that were made almost 7 days ago have had some lasting effect on precious metals this week. At this point last week the main piece of news weighing on every investor’s mind was Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, and his upcoming speeches to both the US House of Representatives and the Senate.

Last Wednesday Mr. Bernanke stepped in front of the House and shocked many people with what he had to say about monetary policy in the US. He asserted that Quantitative Easing, the government’s monthly bond-buying initiative, is by no means on a predetermined course to be wound down or done away with. This news came as a surprise to many as a widely circulated popular belief is, or was, that QE was going to be wound down or done away with by the end of the 2013 calendar year. Bernanke not only shot down this belief, but he went as far as to say that if the US economy were to take a turn for the worse anytime soon the Fed would not have any qualms with perhaps boosting the monthly bond buying employed by the US government.

On Thursday Bernanke was set to address the US Senate, and in his address he just about mirrored what he had to say to the House a day earlier. Both days of remarks saw gold and silver spot values move up and down slightly, but in the end they were left more or less unchanged. Such was the case until the end of the week, though the real effect of Bernanke’s remarks was felt yesterday when gold gained over 30 dollars and silver made gains that were just under a dollar.

Coupled with the higher spot values of gold and silver was a lower USD Index, which always helps the precious metals market.

Light Economic News

While Monday was a frenzied day for most precious metals market watchers, Tuesday has started out significantly calmer. There are very few economic reports due out, and the ones that are are expected to have little to know impact on the precious metals market.