Gold News & Info

Source:Dana Samuelson, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold was virtually unchanged from yesterday’s New York market close. Silver eased lower, while platinum and palladium rebounded from recent short-term lows.

Markets across the board were relatively quiet today, with little impactful economic news to report ahead of tomorrow’s monthly BLS nonfarm payroll report.

According to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg news, payrolls probably grew by 185,000 last month, with unemployment holding steady at 3.9%. Last month saw 150,000 new jobs created.

Initial jobless claims rose slightly week on week, with new claims adding 1,000 to the seasonally adjusted 220,000 but less than the forecast 222,000 analysts predicted.

The US dollar index, which has been choppy since mid-November, fell 0.65 points to 103.51, within the 102.75 to 104.00 trading range it has enjoyed for the last three weeks. Gold typically trades inversely to the dollar, but today’s dollar decline did little to materially boost gold. Treasury yields were steady with the benchmark US 10-year T-bill gaining a miniscule 0.0151 basis points to 4.124%.

The dollar and treasury yields, both of which have fallen sharply since mid-October boosting gold, have stabilized recently. Tomorrow’s jobs report will most likely be the most impactful news of the day.

Next week we’ll get the latest CPI and PPI prints Tuesday and Wednesday, just ahead of the conclusion of the Fed’s last meeting of the year and their Fed Funds rate announcement Wednesday afternoon.

At the Comex close: February gold eased $1.50 to $2,046.40; March silver skidded lower 17 cents to $24.06; January platinum surged $19.00 to $912.70; and March palladium rebounded $25.30 to $976.00 an ounce.