Gold Leaps on Tues as Dollar Sinks, Oil Surges; Fed's Hands Tied
From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...
Gold remained near unchanged in Asia and London on Tuesday before exploding higher in late morning New York trade.
Crude oil prices rose to a new record high of $129.60 and gasoline reached a new record high average of $3.80.
Legendary oil investor T. Boone Pickens came out with his forecast of $150 a barrel by the end of the year; Opec's president said they won't raise output before their next meeting in September.
The US Dollar index fell markedly as continually poor US economic data kept the Federal Reserve's hands tied from raising interest rates anytime soon.
Inflationary pressures in Europe may influence the ECB, in contrast, to raise rates despite recent signs of weakness, plus pressure from the US to join the Fed in cutting rates to levels below what even official inflation numbers are running at.
Gold ended near its high of $923.40 per ounce, with a gain of 1.62%. The Gold Price in Euros rose to about €587, platinum lost $9 to $2134, and copper remained at about $3.79.
Silver also surged higher in the last four hours of trade and ended near its high of $17.67 with a gain of 3.83%.
Treasuries rose despite a sharp rise in the Producer Price Index – up 0.4% in April from March alone, even stripping out "volatile" fuel and food – while the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell on poor earning reports and worries over the economy as oil rose to yet another new record high.
"As oil nears $130, the historical relative value of Gold to Oil is now again at extreme lows," notes Peter Spina of GoldForecaster.com.
"This measurement, among with others, places the true value of Gold much higher than we are seeing it presently trade at. With today's very weak US Dollar and with continual prospects of additional expansion of the global money supply, gold becomes even that more attractive at this present time.
"The short-term prospects are encouraging, and a return to the mid-$900s is quite possible over the coming weeks. Despite the appearance of weakness in this market, the short-term bullish factors could become drivers of the Gold Price higher.
"Sub-$900 pullbacks are going to look more and more attractive going forward. Capital seeking shelter from monetary debasement will continue to deviate to preservation assets such as Gold and silver."
Gold and silver equities steadily rose throughout most of Tuesday's trade and ended at their session highs with over 2.5% gains despite noticeable weakness in the major indices.
Wednesday at 19:00 GMT brings the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest interest-rate meeting of April 30th.
Looking to Buy Gold today? For direct access to live Gold Market prices, click through to BullionVault now...