Gold Gains 2.7% for the Week as US Bail-Out Plan Stalls, WaMu Collapses

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold fell $10.20 to $865.80 in early trade Friday, climbing higher in London and rising as high as $911.70 by 10:00 in New York.

Both Gold Bullion and silver then fell back off into the close and ended with gains of just 0.84% and 1.67% respectively for the day.

For the week, Gold Prices added 2.7%.

The Gold Price in Euros rose to about €605, platinum lost $88 to $1095.50, and copper fell over 6 cents to about $3.08.

Gold and silver equities rose about 2% at the open, but they then fell back off for the rest of the day and ended with about 2% losses.

Oil fell on further worries that demand will continue to drop off in a slowing global economy.

The US Dollar index stayed near unchanged and Treasuries rose as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P traded mostly lower on concerns that a Congressional deal cannot be reached for the Bush administration's desired $700bn bail-out plan.

But stocks rebounded late on hopes that a deal will be reached over the weekend and the Dow and S&P ended higher while the Nasdaq remained lower on a weak forecast from Research in Motion, the maker of Blackberry.

Also dragging on the market was the largest bank failure in history, with the US government seizing WaMu and selling some of its assets to J.P.Morgan.

Just at the close rumors emerged of some kind of business combination between Citigroup and Wachovia.

US economic growth for the second quarter was meantime revised down to 2.8% annualized, well below the first estimate as well as analyst forecasts. The Michigan Sentiment index showed yet another decline.

Next week's economic highlights include US Personal Income and Spending on Monday, Chicago PMI and Consumer Confidence on Tuesday, ADP Employment, Construction Spending, and the ISM Index on Wednesday, Initial Jobless Claims and Factory orders on Thursday, and ISM Services and September’s jobs data on Friday.