Gold Jumps as Stocks Flag, Treasuries Rise on US Fed Concerns Over Asset Purchases

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold traded slightly lower in Asia and London on Tuesday before it jumped higher in early New York trade, and saw an over $10 gain at $1247.35 per ounce.

After a slight dip midmorning, the Gold Price then advanced to new two-month highs in the last few hours of trade and ended near its last minute high of $1249.75 with a gain of 0.9%.

The Gold Price in Euros rose to about €983 an ounce.

The US Dollar index fell in early trade as the Yen rose on speculation that the Bank of Japan's recent moves will not be enough to halt the currency's advance towards new 15-year highs.

The Dollar then pared its losses in late trade, however, and ended only slightly lower after the release of the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting minutes.

Treasuries rose as oil fell and the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P erased early gains and ended mixed.

Minutes from the Fed's August 10th meeting showed that policymakers "were concerned" that a decision to stop their securities holdings from shrinking would send "the wrong signal" about being about to resume large-scale asset buying.

Silver meantime fell almost 1.5% to $18.76 in London before it jumped to as high as $19.28 in early New York trade, and then pared its gains a bit but ultimately rose to new highs in late trade and ended near its last-minute high of $19.40 an ounce with a gain of 1.7%.

Platinum lost $8.75 to $1516.50, and copper fell 5 cents to about $3.36.

Gold and Mining silver equities rose over 2% at the open and remained near their highs through midday before they fell back off a bit in the last couple of hours of trade, but they still ended with about 1% gains.

New data showed US home prices on the Case-Shiller index rising 4.2% year-on-year in June, while Consumer Confidence rose sharply but the Chicago PMI index lagged analyst forecasts.

Ahead of Friday's official Non-Farm Payrolls report, Wednesday at 08:15 ET brings APD Employment for August, expected 13,000 stronger. Construction Spending for July follows at 10:00 ET, expected down 0.7%, with the ISM Index for August expected at 52.9.

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