Stock Market Watch

Gold Prices Edge Higher; Silver Prices Also Edge Higher

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Gold futures shed early losses to turn marginally higher on Thursday after the U.S. dollar eased somewhat following the release of weekly jobless claims data. Silver prices also edged higher in trading on Thursday.

At last check, gold futures for December delivery added 0.15% to $1,372.20 an ounce while spot gold edged up 0.46% to $1,372.06 an ounce. In late trading, the SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE: GLD) was up 0.39% to $132.60.

Silver futures gained 0.35% to $23.09 an ounce.

The dollar index eased slightly   even as yields on benchmark U.S. 10-year treasury dropped after the Labor Department said that weekly first time claims climbed by 13,000 last week to seasonally adjusted 336,000– which was slightly higher than analysts’ consensus estimate.

The higher-than-expected jobless claims raised hopes that the Federal Reserve might wait little longer before its starts winding down the quantitative easing.

Following the release of FOMC minutes on Wednesday, speculation was rife that the Fed could begin the tapering of bond purchase program by September.

“Although you still have a fairly low number of claims, the market seems to be concentrating on the fact that there was still an increase last week, which is definitely the reason for gold’s strength,” said Christin Tuxen, an analyst at Danske Bank, according to Reuters.

Earlier today (during Asian trading hours), the dollar traded sharply higher against major traded currencies as investors repatriated capital from emerging markets, fearing early tapering of asset purchases. The yield on 10-year benchmark U.S. treasury touched almost 3.00% on Thursday.

As tapering of the asset purchases will spike interest rates, bullion will come under pressure since it’s a non-interest bearing asset. Besides, higher demand for dollar due to favorable interest rate differentials will also weigh on dollar-dominated commodities.

 








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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.

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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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