Gold closes Monday 1.2% higher; Bernanke to speak on inflation
from Chris Mullen at GoldSeek...
The gold market traded roughly $1-$4 higher in Asia and London on Monday before it jumped even higher to above $662 in early New York trade. The price of gold then remained near its highs in the low $660s for the rest of the session, and ended with a gain of 1.23% for the day.
Silver found over 1% gains above $12.80 in early New York trade before it fell back off in afternoon trade, but it still ended with a gain of 0.40%.
The price of gold in Euros rose above €485, platinum gained $6 to $1,314, palladium gained $4 to $370, and copper rose about a penny to roughly $3.63.
Gold and silver equities rose about 1.5% at the open before they dipped in early afternoon trade to find just slight gains on the day, but they then rallied back higher in the last two hours of trade and ended with over 1% gains.
In the economy, US consumer credit for May rose strongly, nearly double the rate expected by analysts and almost four times greater than April's figure. Tuesday at 10:00 EST brings the Wholesale Inventories report for May, expected at 0.4% growth. Also today is a speech from Ben Bernanke, head of the US Federal Reserve, on inflation.
In the markets, oil prices fell after hitting new 11-month highs midday while gasoline prices rose on refinery problems. The International Energy Authority forecasts tight supplies in the long term.
The US Dollar index remained unchanged as traders waited for today's speech from Bernanke, plus economic data later in the week. Treasury bonds rose on continued worries over subprime mortgage loans and their impact on the rest of the market.
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose on takeover news and hopes for stronger than expected earnings reports despite poor retail sales indications and worries over inflation. Among the big names making news in the stock market were Danone and Numico, Johnson & Johnson, LaBranche, Lear and Icahn, CME and CBOT, Boeing, Univar and CVC, Lexmark, and Carlyle and Sequa.