By Claudia Assis and Chris Oliver, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures turned lower Monday, giving back some of their early gains and slipping under $1,800 an ounce as U.S. equities cheered data showing consumers earned more and spent more last month.
Gold for December delivery declined $9.70, or 0.5%, to stand at $1,787 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
That follows a strong showing for gold on Friday, when the contract rose 1.9%, to settle at $1,797.30 an ounce.
Silver tracked gold lower, with the September contract SI1U -0.18% off 28 cents, or 0.7%, to $40.64 an ounce.
Metals trading on Monday could be rife with volatility as London’s metal exchange is closed for a summer bank holiday.
U.S equities opened higher on relief that Hurricane Irene, while deadly, stopped short of creating complete havoc along the East Coast.
Earlier Monday, the Commerce Department reported U.S. personal incomes rose 0.3% in July, with spending rising 0.8% as auto purchases surged. Read more about personal savings, income data.
Meanwhile, concerns about the sovereign-debt situation were brought back into focus as Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, said Saturday during a gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo., that the global economic recovery was “fragile.” She warned of a “dangerous new phase.”
Lagarde urged leaders of major central banks to keep interest-rate policies “highly accommodative,” in an apparent reference to recent tightening by the European Central Bank.
Also at Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke put off any discussion of economic easing measures until a policy meeting in late September and offered a positive view of prospects for the U.S. economy.
