From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold Prices fell hard at the New York open on Friday after a report showing a slight drop in core US inflation and a pick up in personal incomes.

Falling as low as $923.72 per ounce, the Gold Market then rebounded nearly 1% in afternoon trade and ended the week 1.3% higher at $931.15 per ounce.

Silver also fell Friday, dropping as low as $17.647 before it rebounded over 1% in the last hour and a half of US trade to end the day with a loss of 3.25% but a gain for the week of 5.5%.

The Gold Price in Euros fell near €589, down from €595.50 per ounce last week, while platinum lost $36 to $2000, and copper fell nearly 5 cents to about $3.85.

Gold and silver mining equities fell over 2% in the first half hour of trade, but they quickly rebounded and traded with a little less than 1% losses for most of the rest of the day.

Crude oil fell nearly $2 as supply concerns eased over the Iraqi pipeline attacked yesterday that is already back in operation. The US Dollar index rose slightly on what commentators called “improving money market conditions.”

Treasury bonds rose Friday on that tame inflation data that pushed interest rates lower. The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose slightly in morning trade on the Core PCE inflation reading of just 0.1% for February and 2% year over year to fall within the fed’s target of 1-2%.

Stocks then fell off in afternoon trade and ended decently lower as traders digested a profit warning from J.C.Penney that dampened the outlook for retail stocks and kept traders wary heading into the weekend.

The S&P lost 1% for the week. Ten-year bond yields ended at 3.46%, right about equal to the PCE inflation reading for Feb. including ood and fuel.

Next week’s economic highlights include Chicago PMI on Monday, Construction Spending and the ISM Index on Tuesday, ADP Employment and Factory Orders on Wednesday, Initial Jobless Claims and ISM Services on Thursday, and March’s jobs data on Friday.

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