From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

The Spot Gold Market gained in choppy trade in Asia and London on Thursday and rose near $665 by early trade in New York before dropping $5 per ounce and closing around $659 for a gain of 0.15%.

Silver rose near $11.85 by late trade in London before it fell back off for much of trade in New York and closed with a gain of 0.60%. The Euro Price of Gold remained at about €487, platinum lost $3 to $1,235, palladium gained $4 to $322, and copper gained over 4 cents to about $3.33.

Gold and silver equities saw over 1% gains at the open, but they then fell off to find  1% losses by late morning in New York and remained at about that level for the rest of the day.

In the economy, US jobless claims dipped for the weekending 18th August but less than expected. Friday at 08:30 EST brings the Durable Goods Orders report for July, expected to show 1.0% growth, and at 10:00 is the New Home Sales report for July, expected at 825,000.

Crude oil on Thursday gained but still closed below $70 for the third day in a row as the focus of the energy market turned back to the world economic outlook and its impact on demand.

The US Dollar index again fell despite further weakness in the Yen as the Euro continued to gain on the outlook that Europe will raise interest rates while the US Fed seriously considers rate cuts in the Dollar.

US Treasuries fell at the open, but they found gains by the close on worries about an oncoming recession in the US. The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P opened higher on encouraging news that Bank of America bought a $2 billion stake in Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender, but all three indices fell off to find losses by the close on recession worries as Angelo Mozilo and Bill Gross were just two of several notable names raising the possibility of a severe slowdown in the US in the near future.

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