Gold Slumps on ECB Rate-Rise; Oil Higher, US Jobs Down

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold remained near unchanged in Asia and London on Thursday before dropping to $927.55 after the European Central Bank was less hawkish about inflation than expected, despite raising its interest rates for the first time in 13 months.

Gold then rallied back higher into the New York close and ended the day with a loss of 1.37%.

The Gold Price in Euros remained little changed, however, holding at €593 as the single currency also fell. (Read more about Jean-Claude Trichet's Euro Rate Decision here...)

Oil rose to a new record high of $145.85 on geopolitical concerns before it pulled back after the Dollar rebounded on the ECB decision.

Oil still ended with a gain heading into the long US weekend which sees New York closed Friday for the Fourth of July. (West Texas futures will continue trading worldwide.)

Treasuries fell as the Dow and S&P found gains after US job losses for June came in as expected with a 62,000 reading from the Bureau of Labor Studies. Its net birth/death adjustment added 177,000 payrolls to June's reading, and there was also a surprise surge in new US jobless claims for last week.

The Nasdaq ended lower on worries over the strength of the tech sector, while silver dropped to $17.96 before it rallied back higher and ended with a loss of 0.74%.

Platinum lost $49.50 to $2021.50, and copper lost over 11 cents to about $3.96. Gold and silver equities fell roughly 1% in the first half hour of trade and remained near that level for the rest of the day.

Next week's US economic highlights include Pending Home Sales, Wholesale Inventories, and Consumer Credit on Tuesday, Initial Jobless Claims on Thursday, and Export and Import Prices, the Trade Balance, Michigan Sentiment, and the Treasury Budget on Friday.

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