Gold Gains as US Stocks Sink, Dollar Falls, on Iran Missile Test & Fresh Economic Fears

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold dropped $4.20 to $916.95 just ahead of the US open on Wednesday, before rallying higher for most of the rest of trade and ending near its high of $928.20 with a gain of 0.62%.

Oil rose after Iran test-fired nine missiles and US crude stockpile inventories fell a much larger-than-expected 5.8 million barrels.

The US Dollar index fell and Treasuries rose on those worries over Iran, plus concerns over the health of the economy and the overall financial system that dragged the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P over 2% lower by the close.

Energy prices fell back off, meantime, as traders concentrated on global demand destruction and the build in gasoline and distillate inventories of 1.0 million barrels and 1.8 million barrels. Refinery Utilization for last week was unchanged at 89.2%.

Silver fell Wednesday in Asia and remained near unchanged in London before it rose throughout trade in New York and ended near its high of $18.127 with a gain of 1.63%.

The Gold Price in Euros rose over €589, platinum gained $19.50 to $1963.50, and copper gained over 4 cents to about $3.75.

Gold and silver equities rose over 3% in the first half hour of trade, but they then fell back off with the major indices for the rest of the day and ended slightly lower.

There were no major economic reports, but US mortgage applications were shown to rise 7.5% last week according to the MBA. Thursday at 13:30 GMT brings US Export & Import Prices for June, Initial Jobless Claims for last week, and the Trade Balance for May – expected to show a $62.2 billion deficit.

Then comes Michigan Sentiment for July and the Treasury Budget for June, expected at $33bn.

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