From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold Prices fell to $934.37 by late trade in Asia on Wednesday before rising as high as $951.80 by the London close.

The Gold Market then fell back off slightly in afternoon US trade, but it still ended near that session high with a respectable gain of 1.5%.

Silver fell to $17.64 by late trade in Asia, but it then rose to as high as $18.33 by late trade in New York and closed near that high with a gain of 3%.

The US Dollar index fell as the poor economic data made it more likely the Fed will continue to cut interest rates, and a strong German business sentiment survey made it more likely that the European Central Bank will not lower interest rates as many have been looking for.

Treasuries rose on the short end on poor economic data and on a $28 billion 2-year note auction that came off at a yield of 1.761%, but longer dated bonds fell as investors shunned the idea of loaning the government money for such a long time at current low yields.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell around 0.8% on fresh recession worries, while the Gold Price in Euros rose to €602 per ounce, platinum gained $30 to $1990, and copper gained roughly 5 cents to about $3.75.

Gold and silver equities rose over 1% at the open and remained at about that level in morning trade before dipped slightly in early afternoon trade, but they then rallied back higher into the close and ended with about 2% gains.

On the economic front, New US Home Sales for Feb. were reported at a 13-year low, but they did come in slightly higher than expected and somewhat offset the much worse than expected Durable Goods data – down 1.7% against 0.8% growth expected.

Also making economic news were comments from US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson, who cautioned that the Fed’s recent policy of opening the discount window to investment banks may not necessarily be permanent and instead sets a precedent only for unusual periods of turmoil.

Oil rose over 4% on a weaker Dollar, a 24-hour strike in France, and poorer than expected inventory reports. US crude inventories were reported to be unchanged, while gasoline inventories fell 3.3 million barrels, distillates fell 2.2 million barrels, and refinery runs fell 1.6% to 82.2%.

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