Gold Ends Week 3% Down vs. Dollar, 4.5% Down vs. Euro; Silver Slips 1.9%

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold rose to see a gain of $11.54 as high as $1119.24 in London on Friday morning, before the Gold Price fell back off for most of the rest of trade and ended near its late session low of $1098.15.

Dropping 0.5% for the day, the Gold Price lost almost 3% for the week against the Dollar.

Versus the Euro, the Gold Price dipped through €800 an ounce, closing just above that level for a drop of 4.5% from last week's record high.

Silver climbed to $17.33 in London on Friday, and dropped to $16.92 in New York before it bounced back higher in late trade, but it still ended with a loss of 0.8% on the day, down 1.9% for the week.

Platinum dropped under $1600 an ounce. Copper remained at about $3.37.

Gold Mining and silver equities fell over 1% midday and remained near that level for the rest of the day, down 2.8% from the previous week's close on average.

US Retail Sales showed a surprise increase for Feb., up 0.8% excluding auto sales, but crude oil still fell on worries over demand after a much worse than expected Michigan Sentiment reading.

The US Dollar index fell and Treasury bonds rose as traders weighed US economic data against reports from the rest of the world.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P remained mixed and near unchanged.

Next week's US economic highlights include the Empire Manufacturing Survey, Net Long-Term TIC Flows, Capacity Utilization, and Industrial Production on Monday; Building Permits, Housing Starts, Export and Import Prices, and the Federal Reserve interest-rate decision – expected to make no change from 0% – on Tuesday; Producer Price inflation on Wednesday; and Consumer Price data, plus Initial Jobless Claims, the Current Account Balance, Leading Economic Indicators, and the Philadelphia Fed on Thursday.

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