Gold Slips 1.6% on Bail-Out News; US Economic Data Points to Falling Home Prices, Rising Unemployment

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold rose $6.95 to $896.55 in Asia on Thursday before it fell to $863.10 by late morning in New York on news the US financial bail-out package is almost agreed.

Gold Bullion prices then then rallied $13.10 in the last couple of hours of trade but still ended with a loss of 1.57% for the session.

Silver held near unchanged in Asia and London before it briefly spiked over 3% higher to $13.775 in New York but fell to end with a loss of 1.2%.

The Gold Price in Euros fell to about €599, platinum lost $24 to $1183.50, and copper gained a couple of cents to about $3.14.

Gold and silver equities fell nearly 3% by midmorning before they rallied back near unchanged by early afternoon, but they then fell back off into the close and ended near new session lows with about 3% losses.

Oil rose despite demand concerns as supplies remain tight and it’s believed that demand may come back as the US financial bailout plan is passed.

The US Dollar index rose and Treasury bonds fell while the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P gained on hopes that the bailout plan will be passed soon and will actually work.

On the data front, US unemployment claims rose sharply for last week, while New Home Sales and Durable (White) Goods Orders for August showed a marked decline.

Friday at 13:30 GMT brings second quarter US GDP, expected at 3.4% annualized, followed by the September Michigan Sentiment Index, expected at 70.9.