Gold Up, Silver Down, as Spanish Downgrade Sends Euro to 1-Yr Low
From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...
Gold traded mostly higher in Asia and London on Wednesday, before falling to its session low of $1160.48 at the open of trade in New York.
The Gold Price in Euros then rose to a new all-time high above €890 an ounce as the single currency sank on a fresh downgrade to Spain's national debt.
Platinum lost $9.50 to $1704.50, and copper rose slightly to about $3.37.
The Gold Price in Dollars surged as high as $1174.20 by midday in New York, and then fell back off in afternoon trade, but still ended with a gain of 0.8%.
Silver Prices fell as much as 30 cents to $17.80 in mid-morning New York trade before it rose to see a 13 cent gain at $18.23 by around noon EST, but it then fell back off into the close and ended with a loss of 0.11%.
Gold Mining and silver equities rose throughout most of trade and ended with almost 3% gains.
The US Federal Reserve kept the fed funds rate in its record low range of 0.00% to 0.25% as expected. They still expect rates to remain there for an "extended period", but Kansas Fed president Thomas Hoenig dissented again, preferring some room to be able to raise rates sooner if warranted.
Oil remained modestly higher after the Energy Information Administration reported that crude inventories rose 1.9 million barrels, gasoline inventories fell 1.2 million barrels, and distillates rose 2.9 million barrels.
The US Dollar index turned higher after the Euro fell to a new one-year low.
Treasuries stayed lower after Wednesday's $42 billion 5-year note auction drew a high yield of 2.540% with a bid to cover of 2.75 times.
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose as worries over Spain's downgrade were offset by decent earnings reports and the Fed's reiterated low interest rate stance.
Thursday at 08:30 ET brings Initial US Jobless Claims for last week, expected at 445,000.
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