Gold and Silver Gain Over 1% on Friday and About 2% and 4% on the Week

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold traded
mostly slightly higher in Asia and London and
then rose about 1% to above $671 by about 10AM EST in New York before it fell back off to about
$666, but it then rallied back higher for the rest of the day and ended at its
high of the session with a gain of 1.22%.
Silver rose to over $13.10 by about 10AM EST before it fell back off a
bit in late morning trade, but it also rallied back higher into the close and
ended back near its earlier high with a gain of 1.08%.

Euro gold
rose to about €489, platinum gained $6 to $1,287, palladium remained unchanged
at $362, and copper fell another 8 cents to about $3.54.

Gold and
silver equities ended roughly 1% lower despite over 1% gains in gold and silver
as general market weakness dragged the indices lower.

Oil fell further
from the new all-time high of $78.77 hit on Wednesday as the outlook remains relatively
calm both on the geopolitical front and for weather forecasts of potential
hurricanes.

The U.S.
dollar index fell dramatically to back near the significant 80 level and treasuries
rose on poor economic data and increased credit concerns that pushed interest
rates lower ahead of the fed’s policy announcement next week. The yield on the 10-year fell to a new 2 and
½ month low and yield on the 2-year fell under 4.5% for the first time since
January 2006.

The Dow,
Nasdaq, and S&P fell over 2% on renewed credit concerns as Bear Stearns’ debt
rating outlook was cut by S&P and the company’s CFO came out and said that
fixed income market turmoil is the worst in 22 years.