Gold Ends May at Record-High Monthly Close; Stocks, Oil & Euro Stumble on Spain Downgrade
From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...
Gold saw a slight gain early Friday before it fell to see a $10 loss at $1202.10 by late morning in New York.
Gold then spiked higher in the last couple of hours of trade, and ended flat on the day, more than 3.1% higher for the week at a new all-time monthly closing high of $1212 an ounce.
UK and US markets are closed on Monday for Whit Bank Holiday and Memorial Day respectively, reopening on Tues 1 June.
Oil fell and the US Dollar index rose as Fitch cut Spain's government bond rating for the second time in a month, and sent the Euro lower again.
Treasuries reversed early losses and turned higher on increased worries over Europe and worse than expected economic data that sent the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P about 1% lower on the day, little changed for the week overall.
The Gold Price in Euros rose to €990, a new monthly closing high.
The Gold Price in Sterling ended April just shy of £840 an ounce, also a new best-ever monthly finish.
Silver climbed almost 1% to $18.62 an ounce, falling as low as $18.22 before it also bounced higher in late trade, but still ended with a loss of 0.5% on the day.
For the week, Silver Bullion added 4.1%.
Platinum lost $6.50 on Friday to $1543.50, and copper fell 5 cents to about $3.10.
Gold Mining and silver equities fell a little over 1% by late morning and remained near that level for most of the rest of the day, some 5% better for the week.
After first-quarter US economic growth was revised down to 3.2% annualized on Thursday, Friday's data showed Personal Income rising 0.4% month-on-month in April, as analysts forecast.
Personal Spending, however, disappointed the Street by holding flat. The Chicago PMI index of manufacturing sentiment slipped.
Next week's US economic highlights include Construction Spending and the ISM Index on Tuesday, Pending Home Sales on Wednesday, ADP Employment, Productivity, Unit Labor Costs, Initial Jobless Claims, Factory Orders, and ISM Services on Thursday, and May’s jobs data on Friday.
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