Gold Ends Week Unchanged, Stocks Lose 7%, as US Jobless Rate Jumps to Quarter-Century Record

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

The Gold Price on Friday jumped to a one-week high of $944.30 following the release of US jobs data that showed unemployment rising to 8.1%.

The BLS Net Birth/Death adjustment added 134,000 payrolls to February's data, but the Unemployment Rate still rose to a 25-year high after 651,000 non-farm jobs were lost in Feb.

Oil meantime rose on speculation that the Opec oil cartel will reduce its output quotas again. The US Dollar index  fell back after that worst-than-expected jobs report.

Treasuries rose slightly despite worries over upcoming supply, while the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell for most of trade on continued worries over the economy and the banking system.

The major indices fell to new 12-year lows at one point, but they then rallied back higher in late trade and ended with slight gains while the Nasdaq remained lower on the day.

For the week, the S&P 500 stocks lost 7% on average.

Spot Gold slipped back in afternoon Comex Gold Futures dealing, dipping to $930.30 an ounce, before rallying into the New York close to end the day $15 higher at $941.80, and unchanged for the week.

The Gold Price in Euros rose to €744, before also slipping back to end the week unchanged at €742 an ounce.

For British investors now Ready to Buy  Gold, the metal closed Friday with its second-highest ever weekly finish at £666.50 an ounce.

Silver added 1.7% for the week to $13.34, while platinum gained $12 to $1066, and copper gained a few cents to about $1.68.

Gold Mining and silver equities rose about 3% mid-morning Friday, before they backed off in afternoon trade and saw roughly 2% losses at one point.

Rallying into the close, the major Gold Mining indices ended near unchanged on the day. The XAU index added 0.4% for the week, while the HUI lost 1.7%.

On the data front, new data said consumer credit rebounded by $1.8bn in Jan. from Dec.'s $7.4bn contraction. Average earnings rose 0.2% last month, the Bureau for Labor Studies added, while the work-week was unchanged at 33.3 hours.

Next week’s economic highlights include Wholesale Inventories on Tuesday, the Treasury Budget on Wednesday, Initial Jobless Claims, Retail Sales, and Business Inventories on Thursday, and Export and Import Prices, the Trade Balance, and Michigan Sentiment on Friday.