Precious Metals Gold continued to fall for the second day after three straight-days of advances (see survey #2 settle price chart below). The golden metal fell $1.70 (-0.11%) to settle at $1,613.40 a troy ounce. Silver on the COMEX declined 77 cents (-1.91%) to $39.79 a troy ounce. Silver is declining faster than gold pushing the ratio between the two higher. Good initial jobless claims numbers helped alleviate fears. As the debt-ceiling talks begin to wind-down investors are taking profits. Just three days ago the golden metal hit all-time highs. In Asia silver and gold prices continued to fall (see Tokyo Commodity Exchange Chart Below). Gold fell eight yen (-0.20%) per gram to ¥4,037. That works out to $1,612.31 per troy ounce. Silver declined even faster, down two yen (-1.69%) a gram to ¥98.6 ($39.38 an ounce). Energy Prices September light sweet crude oil (WTI) on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) increased 4 cents (+0.04%) $97.44 a barrel. Gasoline fell two cents (-0.63%) to 3.0638 a gallon (Sept). Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) fell seven cents (-0.06%) to $117.36 per barrel. In Japan crude oil fell 380 yen (-0.69%) to ¥54,740 per kiloliter. Agricultural Commodities Most agricultural commodities were lower Thursday (see survey #1 chart below). Cocoa, coffee, corn, soybeans, and sugar were lower, but wheat and cotton were higher. One report suggested that wheat yields in the U.S. will be higher while Russia and the Ukraine begin to export again. Feeder cattle, live cattle and lean hogs were all elevated.

Source