Gold News & Info

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold surged 2% to close at $1,757 on bargain-hunting after soft data pressured stocks, yields, and the dollar, boosting alternative stores of value. The metal still slid 3.4% for the month and 0.8% for the quarter, weighed down by a sharp rise in the dollar and Treasury yields.

Jobless claims rose for the third straight week to a two-month high, suggesting momentum is waning in the labor market as the Delta variant spreads across the US. Faltering job growth will complicate the Fed's decision-making as it looks to taper quantitative easing toward the end of the year.

The Chicago PMI, a measure of business activity in the Midwest, dropped to its lowest level in seven months. The last regional ISM gauge before the national ISM data is released this Friday, the Chicago print follows similarly weaker readings from New York and Philadelphia earlier this month.

Adding to worries about a global economic slowdown, China's official manufacturing gauge fell into contraction this month for the first time since February 2020, when the Covid swept the nation.

Wall Street was generally lower on the downbeat data, with the Dow dropping 0.8% and the S&P 500 0.4% to close out their worst quarter since the beginning of the pandemic.

Investors shifted from risk to safety, bidding up Treasury prices and pressuring benchmark 10-year yields back near 1.5%. Lower yields support gold by reducing the opportunity cost for holding it instead of bonds.

Also lifting gold, the dollar slipped from a one-year high as Forex traders consolidated gains from the buck's 1% rise this week. A weaker dollar lifts gold and other commodities by making them cheaper in other currencies.

The other precious metals higher for the day but lower for the month and quarter. Silver added 2.6% but still lost 8.2% this month and 16% this quarter. Platinum picked up 1.6% today but fell 5.1% in September and 10% in Q3. Palladium climbed 3.8% for the session but tumbled 23% for the month and 32% for the quarter.

At the Comex close: December gold gained $34.10 to $1,757; December silver rose 56 cents to $22.05; January platinum picked up $15.40 to $962.40; and December palladium added $69.50, to $1,899.80 an ounce.