Gold News & Info

Source: Dr. Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold gained for the fifth straight session, adding 0.2% to close at a two-month high above $1,321, as weaker economic data in the Eurozone and slowing price-appreciation in U.S. home sales increased safe-haven demand.

Business confidence in Germany fell to the lowest level of the year amidst slower manufacturing and a weaker services sector, while factory output in France fell into contraction. The disappointing data, which raises concerns about the ability of Europe's two biggest economies to pull the region out of the doldrums, may push the ECB into additional stimulus measures like Fed-style quantitative easing. Tantamount to printing money, QE supports higher gold prices by devaluing currencies and increasing inflation-risk.

Prices of U.S. houses grew more slowly than expected in April, a mere 0.2%, knocking equities into decline for the second straight day as the Dow and S&P 500 both lost around 0.7%. The other precious metals outpaced gold today, with silver picking up 0.6% while platinum and palladium rose 1.1% and 0.9%, respectively. Gold has now gained 6% this month while silver, heading for its biggest month since last August, has surged a whopping 13%.

At the Comex close: August gold picked up $2.90 to $1,321.30; July silver climbed 13 cents to $21.04; July platinum added $15.30, to $1,471.90; and September palladium gained $7.75 to $830.40 an ounce.