MW: Gold, silver fall after positive economic data
By Myra P. Saefong and Virginia Harrison , MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures fell Thursday, as a dip in U.S. jobless claims helped to dull investment demand for the precious metal and as the dollar came off its session lows.
Gold for August delivery GCQ11 -0.78% , the most active contract, fell $15.60, or 1%, to $1,527.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It had traded as high as $1,545.50 an ounce earlier.
Losses mounted for gold as the dollar came off lows against the euro. Earlier in the session, the Labor Department said first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell slightly last week as 422,000 people nationwide filed claims.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected a decline to 418,000. Weekly applications for benefits usually fall well below 400,000 when the economy is strong and companies are hiring rapidly.
Gold prices are trending in a very narrow range “on worries that the global slowdown will give the U.S. dollar enough of a rally to stomp on the commodity bull’s feet,” said Richard Hastings, a macro strategist at Global Hunter Securities.
The dollar slipped as comments from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet boosted hopes for a more coordinated fiscal policy to deal with euro-zone debts, hitting a three-week low versus the euro earlier. Read more on Trichet’s call for greater capacity for European Union intervention.
But the dollar index DXY -0.46% , which measures the greenback’s performance against a basket of six rival currencies, recovered somewhat. Recently it stood at 74.523, down from 74.740 late Wednesday. Read more about currencies action.
“Overall, the trend is for increased demand for gold as a form of liquid currency, and we don’t expect the U.S. dollar to rebound strongly or for long,” said Hastings. “Therefore, the outlook for gold remains favorable.” Read about gold’s June prospects.
Silver outpaced gold’s decline, with its July contract SIN11 -3.77% plunging $1.63, or 4.4%, to $36.06 an ounce.
Copper for July delivery HGN11 -0.32% sank 4 cents, or 1%, to $4.06 a pound.
Platinum for July delivery PLN11 -0.32% extended recent weakness, declining $8.90, or 0.5%, to $1,815 an ounce. The drop was sharper for sister-metal palladium, with the most actively traded September contract PAU11 -0.94% shedding $111.50, or 1.5%, to $767.60 an ounce.
