Gold Bounces to Close Weds 2% Higher as Dollar Falters, Stocks Fall on Poor US Retail Sales

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold bounced to $826 and silver rose to $14.88 by late trade in Asia on Wednesday before both metals fell back near unchanged in London.

Both then rallied back higher in New York and ended near their new session highs of $829.60 and $14.917 with gains of 2.08% and 2.39%.

The Gold Price in Euros rose to about €553, platinum gained $35 to $1506.50, and copper gained over 13 cents to about $3.37.

Gold miners and silver equities rose over 5% by late morning and remained near their highs into the close.

On the economic front, US Import Prices rose more sharply than expected in July but slowed from June. Export Prices rose 1.4% month-on-month, while domestic Retail Sales shrank and Business Inventories rose.

Oil prices rose after an unexpectedly large drop in gasoline inventories.  Crude inventories fell 400,000 barrels, gasoline inventories fell 6.4 million barrels, and distillates fell 1.7 million barrels.

The US Dollar index rose slightly as the Yen fell on a Japanese report showing economic contraction in the second quarter. The Pound fell after the UK reported an increase in the jobless rate and the Bank of England warned of a marked economic slowdown ahead.

Treasuries rose at the open as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell for most of trade on more financial worries, the poor Retail Sales report, and the rise in oil prices, but stocks ended off of their lows and bonds turned lower by the close on optimism over the tech sector.

Thursday at 13:30 GMT brings Initial US Jobless Claims for last week, expected at 436,000, plus the Consumer Price Index for July, expected to show 5.2% year-on-year inflation.