Gold & Silver End Thurs Higher as Stocks Rally on Accounting-Change Rumor

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold rose as high as $924.50 and silver climbed to $12.92 a little before 09:00 EST in New York on Thursday before both metals fell back 1% from those highs.

Going into the close, Spot Gold and silver still ended the session with gains of 1.28% and 2.73% on the day.

Gold Hit New Record Euro Highs above €720, while platinum gained $8.50 to $970.50, and copper fell a few cents to about $1.50.

Gold Mining and silver equities traded roughly 2% higher in morning trade before they fell back near unchanged by early afternoon. The miners then rallied back near their earlier highs in late trade, ending with roughly 2% gains on the day.

Crude oil rose on hopes that the mostly horrible economic data of late will help push through another stimulus plan, in turn supposedly helping energy demand.

The US Dollar index rose slightly as the Yen fell on a renewed wave of risk taking that encouraged traders to borrow against the Japanese currency to buy other assets.

The Euro fell and the Pound was steady after the Bank of England cut rates to 1% but the European Central Bank held rates at 2% as expected.

US Treasury bonds rose. The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell at the open on more economic worries as Initial Jobless Claims came in much higher than expected, but rumors of a possible rule change over how financial companies value their assets ignited a rally in the banking stocks late in the day.

The change would allow banks to hide their huge losses again. All three indices ended with decent gains.

Friday at 13:30 GMT brings January's key US jobs data. Nonfarm Payrolls are expected down by 540,000 with the Unemployment Rate up at 7.5%.

Hourly Earnings are expected 0.2% better. Consumer Credit for December is expected to show a $3.5 billion decline.