BS:Futures and Commodities – Gold and Silver Prices Advanced - Brent Crude Fell – Asia Prices Higher
(Best Syndication News) Investor concerns continue to drive up the price of gold and silver today (see commodities charts below). Brent crude fell while light sweet crude advanced.
Precious Metals
August gold on the COMEX advanced seven dollars (+0.45%) to $1,553.40 a troy ounce (see survey #2 settle price charts below). Gold has been higher seven days in a row.
Silver for July delivery advanced thirty six cents (+0.99%) to $36.74 a troy ounce.
Investors are still concerned about the Greek sovereign debt crisis. The uncertainty is driving up the cost of gold. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke added fuel to the fire when he laid-out economic concerns in a speech on Wednesday.
Platinum and palladium were both higher today. Copper was lower.
In Asia, most commodities closed higher in the night session (see Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) chart below). Gold was up 18 yen per gram to ¥4,006 per gram. That works out to $1,555.20 per troy ounce. Silver was up 0.96 percent.
Energy Prices
Light sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) settled up $1.24 (+1.32%) to $95.41 a barrel. As soon the commodity popped through the $95.00 level, it started to decline again. Since the settle, the price it is down $1.51.
The same forces that can drive up the price of gold can also drive down the price of oil. Economic uncertainty and the possibility of a slowing economy is pushing oil lower.
Gasoline on the NYMEX settled higher, but has sense fallen.
Brent crude fell 74 cents (-0.66) to $110.95 on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
In Asia crude and gasoline were both higher.
Agricultural Products
Most commodities were lower Wednesday (see survey #1 table below).
Coffee, Corn, cotton, orange juice, soybeans, sugar and wheat were lower. Only cocoa was higher. Cotton hit a 100-day low. Sugar and cotton are both down more than 20 percent over the last 100 days.
Feeder cattle were down 0.60 percent while live cattle were down 1.96 percent. The price of lean hogs fell 1.38 percent.
