Gold Cuts Losses But Stocks Drop, Silver Falls Ahead of US GDP Data

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold traded modestly higher in Asia and London on Thursday, and rose to $1095.95 a little after the start of New York trade before it fell to $1074.00 by early afternoon.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P also fell, down more than 1% on worries over poor economic data, as well as Obama's proposed tax on foreign corporate earnings announced late Weds, and a possible bank tax and/or overhaul to banking regulation.

Durable Goods Orders rose faster than analysts forecast in Dec., but Initial US Jobless Claims for last week were higher than expected.

Oil fell slightly on weak demand, as the US Dollar index rose after the Euro fell on concerns about the financial health of smaller Eurozone countries such as Greece and Portugal.

Treasuries fell on doubts over the market's ability to absorb the massive amount of supply of debt due to be issued over the near future.

Gold then shot back higher in the last hour of trade and ended with a loss of just 0.1% on the day.

The Gold Price in Euros rose to €775 an ounce.

Silver fell all the way to $16.00 before it also rebounded in late trade, but it still ended with a loss of 1.4%.

Platinum gained $12.50 to $1497, and copper fell another 12 cents to about $3.10.

Gold Mining and silver equities opened North American dealing more than 1% higher before they fell to see 3% losses by early afternoon. Precious metals miners then rallied higher in the last few hours of trade, and ended with less than 1% losses.

Friday at 08:30 EST brings fourth quarter US GDP, expected to show 4.6% growth. The Chain Deflator is expected at 1.3%, and the Employment Cost Index is expected up 0.4%.

09:45 brings the Chicago PMI for January, expected at 57.4, and at 9:55 comes Michigan Sentiment for January, expected at 73.0.

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