Gold Loses 1.5% as Stocks Slump 3% on Woeful US Retail Sales Data

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

The Gold Price rose over 1% to $829.17 in Asia and early London trade Wednesday, but it then fell sharply in New York and ended near its low of $807.60 with a loss of 1.5% for the day.

The US Dollar index and Treasuries rose on cash raising while the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell markedly as Retail Sales data and earnings reports came in even worse than horrible expectations yet again.

The Dow fell for the sixth straight session and all 30 Dow stocks were lower on the day.

Crude oil was little changed, even after US stockpile numbers grew more than expected overall.

Silver climbed over 2% to $10.89 in Asia before it dropped as low as $10.33 by late morning in New York. Silver then rebounded off that low, but still 2.1% lower.

The Gold Price in Euros fell to €614, platinum lost $12.50 to $924.50, and copper fell almost 6 cents to about $1.47.

Gold Mining and silver equities fell over 6% about an hour into trade before they rebounded slightly into the close, but they still ended with about 5% losses on the day.

On the data front, US retail sales for Dec. showed a massive 3.1% plunge not including auto sales. Import prices fell – but less than expected – while export prices for US manufacturers fell faster than forecast, down 2.3%.

The Federal Reserve's Beige Book of analysis said economic activity continued to weaken last month alongside retail sales, manufacturing, the real estate market, and lending activity.

Thursday at 13:30 GMT brings Producer Price Inflation for Dec., expected down 1.9%, plus Initial Jobless Claims for last week expected at half-a-million.