Gold Ends Monday Unchanged as US Budget Deficit Hits $482bn, Two More Banks Fail

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold fell out of a tight $5 range mid-morning in New York on Monday to reach $922.30 per ounce. But it then ran back higher to $933.00 by late morning, and finally ended with a gain of $1.50 – some 0.16%.

Silver rose to $17.50 by midday in London before it dropped to $17.21 by late morning in New York, but it then rallied back higher in the last couple of hours of trade and ended with a gain of 0.69%.

The Gold Price in Euros rose to about €589, platinum climbed to $1768.50, and copper remained at $3.71.

Gold and silver equities rose over 1% by late morning before they fell back off a bit in afternoon trade, but they still ended with slight gains.

There were no major economic reports, but the Bush administration released a budget deficit estimate of a record high $482 billion. Tuesday at 15:00 GMT brings US Consumer Confidence for July expected at 50.0.

Pipeline attacks in Nigeria and fresh posturing over Iran's nuclear program from Tehran sent oil prices higher, though gains were somewhat limited as President Ahmadinejad also said he "would be open to a 'new approach' from the US."

Two more bank failures announced late Friday raised worries about the health and solvency of the financial system and sent the US Dollar index and the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P lower while Treasury bonds found nice gains.

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