Gold News & Info

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold dipped 0.8% to close under $1,948 as traders took profits from its three-day rally despite sharply higher consumer inflation and volatility on Wall Street. The metal still notched a weekly win of 0.7%, driven by uncertainty over geopolitics and the COVID recovery.

Consumer inflation jumped for the third consecutive month, with the CPI adding 0.4% behind the biggest rise in used car prices in 50 years. The core CPI, stripping out volatile food and energy prices, also rose 0.4%.

Wall Street was mixed for the day. The Dow and S&P 500 swung from early losses and late-session gains of 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively, in very choppy trade. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.4% for its fifth loss in six days. All three indexes were lower for the second straight week.

The dollar was nearly flat, easing less than 0.1% against major rivals on the strength of the ECB's decision this week to hold interest rates steady and support the rising euro.

Despite today's profit-taking, gold was lifted this week by trade tensions and new signs that the recovery is beginning to flatline. Nearly 1.7 million Americans filed for first-time jobless claims last week, state and federal combined, as new claims rose for the third straight week.

Meanwhile, President Trump vowed this week to "decouple" economically from China if re-elected, floating the idea of "massive" new tariffs and penalties for companies doing business with Beijing. And Boris Johnson, Britain's PM, threatened to unilaterally override Brexit provisions, throwing the prospects for an orderly transition into new disarray.

The other precious metals were mixed for the day and week. Silver dropped 1.6% but still rose 0.5% this week. Platinum dipped 0.2% on the day but rallied 4.6% on the week. Palladium was nearly flat today and lost 0.5% this week.

At the Comex close: December gold fell by $16.40 to $1,947.90; December silver shed 43 cents to $26.86; October platinum slipped $1.40 to $939.60; and December palladium dropped a dime to $2,330.80 an ounce.