Gold Ends Week 4.5% Higher, Silver Adds 9%, as Fed Vows to Raise Rates "on Recovery"

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold traded modestly lower in Asia and London on Friday and rose in New York but then fell all the way to $1042.80 by noon on Wall Street.

Gold then rallied back higher in afternoon trade, and ended with a loss of just 0.7% on the day, up 4.5% for the week.

The Gold Price in Euros fell to €712, more than 2.5% higher for the week.

The US Dollar index rose from a 14-month low after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the US central bank will tighten monetary policy “as a recovery takes hold.”

Treasuries fell as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose slightly on steady earnings reports.

Silver rose to see a slight gain $17.78 by about 10:30AM EST before it also fell back off, but it ended with a loss of 0.7% on the day, more than 9% higher for the week.

Platinum lost $12.50 to $1326.50, and copper fell 6 cents to about $2.83.

Gold Mining and silver equities fell over 1% at the open before they rose back to about unchanged by late morning, but they then fell back off midday and ended with slight losses.

Oil ended marginally higher after the IEA raised its expectations for oil demand in 2010.

New data showed the USA Trade Deficit for August shrinking $1bn to $30.7bn, less than the $33bn analysts forecast.

Next week's US economic highlights include Export and Import Prices, Retail Sales, Business Inventories, and FOMC Minutes on Wednesday, Initial Jobless Claims, CPI, and the Philadelphia Fed on Thursday, and TIC Flows, Capacity Utilization, Industrial Production, and Michigan Sentiment on Friday.

Monday sees both Canada's stock market and the US bond market closed for national holidays. The New York Stock Exchange is open as usual.

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