Gold Rallies to End the Week 1.5% Down; Stocks Lose 3.7%, Oil Dumps 10%

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Spot Gold and silver held more than 1% higher in Asia on Friday, before they continued to climb steadily in London and New York.

The Gold Price ended near its session highs, going into the long US holiday weekend with an impressive gain of 4.0%. Silver added 7.2% on the day.

For the week, Gold Bullion slipped 1.5%. The major US stock indices lost more than 3.7%.

Friday saw the Gold Price in Euros rise to finish the week unchanged at €635 per ounce. The Gold Price in Sterling added 1.5% to £572.

Platinum gained $19.50 on Friday but closed the week more than 5% lower at $938.50. Copper gained over 7 cents to about $1.51.

Gold Mining and silver equities rose over 4% at the open before they fell back to about unchanged by midday, but they then rallied back higher to new highs into the close and ended with about 5% gains.

Oil fell in early trade Friday as the International Energy Agency lowered its demand forecast to join both the Opec oil cartel and the Energy Information Administration (EIA), who also lowered their forecasts earlier this week.

Crude oil prices rebounded in late trade and ended slightly higher on the day as traders covered shorts heading into the Martin Luther King Day close on Monday.

For the week, crude oil was 10% off.

The US Dollar index and Treasuries fell on news that the remaining $350 billion in the TARP is going to be deployed as part of the government’s effort to Print America Out of Its Financial Crisis, caused by too much easy money in the first place.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose about 1% at Friday's open before falling markedly midday, but they then rallied back higher in afternoon trade and ended about 1% higher as traders debated the implications of a split-up Citigroup and the bailout of Bank of America.