Gold News & Info

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinNew York spot gold edged down less than 0.1% to close at $3,380 as traders took profits from four straight rising session that brought bullion to a two-week high. Silver added 0.1% to finish at $37.77 an ounce.

A stream of weaker US economic data over the pat week has increased the likelihood that the Fed will cut interest rates in September and perhaps twice more in 2025. CME FedWatch now puts the odds of a September reduction of 25 basis points at 91%, p from around 60% a week ago.

Last Friday's nonfam payrolls report showed that the economy added merely 73,000 jobs last month while the totals for June and May were revised downward by a whopping 258,000.

In addition, growth in the services slowed almost to a halt, with the ISM index posting 50.1%, where anything under 50% signals contraction. Services account for 70% of the economy.

Wall Street rose on the prospects of a rate cut, pulling monies away from safe havens. The Dow added 0.3% while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq increased by 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively, driven largely by investments in AI.

The dollar fell another 0.3% against major rivals on rate-cut prospects, limiting gold's slide. A weaker dollar supports gold by making it cheaper overseas.

Platinum picked up 1.4% while palladium fell 2.9%.

At the New York spot close: gold eased $1.90 to $3,380; silver added 8 cents, to $37.77; platinum picked up $18.45 to %+$1,335.65; and palladium retreated $34.90 to $1,149.25 an ounce.