FS: US GOLD - Comex gold moves in choppy fashion following lacklustre US reports
New York 31/05/2012 - Gold futures wobbled on Thursday after worse-then-expected US macroeconomic data cast doubt on the economic recovery here but also prompted some investors to seek safety.
Gold for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was last down $3.50 at $1,562.20 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $1,553.00 to $1,572.60.
“Over the past two days, gold has been the victim of whiplash and this led to a confused marketplace" a US-based gold trader said. "What does gold want to be? Is it a haven like it was yesterday or is it a risk asset like it was Monday?”
“The picture is even more muddled because today is the last trading day of the month and [non-farm] payrolls comes out tomorrow," he added. "The only thing that I can say with 100 percent certainty is that everyone's happy that May is over."
In today's US data, weekly unemployment claims increased by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 383,000, which was higher than expectations of 369,000.
Meanwhile, preliminary US first-quarter GDP came in at forecast but still fell to 1.9 percent from the previous estimate of 2.2 percent.
Payroll processor ADP reported that US economy added 133,00 jobs in May, up from a gain of 113,000 in the prior month but below a projection of the addition of 145,000 jobs.
Chicago PMI for May declined to 52.7 from 56.2 in April, falling short of forecasts for an increase to 56.7.
Based on the poor data, the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes dipped to 1.593 percent, an all-time record low, as investors continue to abandon equities and commodities.
The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 were last down 0.47 percent and 0.73 percent respectively
“Gold is proving to be good risk insurance, fuelling hopes of a trend reversal in the near future. Although our long-term expectations for the gold price remain very positive, we believe there may still be downside risks if the US dollar continues to remain strong,” Commerzbank AG said.
In Europe, Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 were off 0.83 percent and 0.63 percent, while the yield on Spanish 10-year notes were 15 basis points lower on the day at 6.55 percent after having reached a six-month high of 6.72 percent on Wednesday.
As for the other precious metals, Comex silver for July delivery was last down 36.3 cents at $27.620 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $27.510 to $28.190.
Platinum futures for July delivery on Nymex were down 40 cents at $1,400.80 per ounce, while the September palladium contract was at $606.30, down 20 cents.
