Content provided by Haywood Securities Inc.

Content provided by Haywood Securities Inc.

A final cash-for-reforms proposal was delivered to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, along with a clear message from European Union leaders that all patience had been exhausted, and that the Greek government must choose between reforms and an accompanying 15.5 billion euro loan that would see Greece remain solvent at least to the end of November, or default on its loans and risk being ejected from the euro zone completely. Tsipras has remained defiant, refusing to accept cuts to Greek wages and pensions, but European lenders have issued a take it or leave it position; a default would likely see an upswing in the price of gold, as investors turn to safe-haven assets. The price of gold was lower for the week, down 2.2% to $1,174 per ounce following comments by Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell of preparations for two interest rate raises this year. Silver (↓1.9%), platinum (↓0.30%) and palladium (↓4.3%) also fell, with palladium falling below the $700 mark for the first time since December 2013; all three finished at $15.79, $1,082 and 679 per ounce respectively. Base metals were mostly down; nickel in particular has fallen almost 18% since the start of the year. Nickel (↓2.17%), lead (↓0.47%) and zinc (↓0.31%) each finished at $5.63, $0.80 and $0.92 per pound respectively. Copper reversed some of the losses it sustained in recent weeks, rising 1.8% to finish at $2.61 per pound as investors become bullish after data suggested a stabilization of Chinese stockpiles. The UxC Broker Average Price (BAP) for uranium was flat for most of the week and finished at $37.25 per pound. The price of WTI crude ended the week at $59.64 per barrel.

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