Gold Prices Settle Higher; Silver Prices Rise Sharply
Gold prices edged higher in trading on Friday, tracking gains in the equity market. Silver prices also rose sharply on Friday.
Gold gained even as the Labor Department released solid jobs report for the month of January. Apart from the surprisingly weak GDP data earlier this week, recent data has pointed to a continuing recovery in the U.S. economy. This is hurting gold’s safe-haven appeal.
An improvement in the U.S. economy also raises the question about how long the Federal Reserve should continue with its bond buying program. The Fed’s ultra-loose monetary policy has provided support to gold prices in recent years. Earlier this week, the Fed’s latest monetary policy statement suggested that the central bank is in no rush to end its bond buying program. However, improving U.S. economic outlook may force the Fed to have a re-think.
At last check on Friday, spot gold was trading 0.40% higher at $1,669 an ounce. Gold futures for delivery in April settled $8.60 higher at $1,670.60 an ounce.
Silver prices rallied on Friday, with spot silver gaining more than 1% to trade near $32 an ounce.
In late trading on Friday, the iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE: SLV) was up 1.48% to $30.89, the ProShares Ultra Silver (ETF) (NYSE: AGQ) was up 2.92% to $48.33, and the ProShares UltraShort Silver (ETF) (NYSE: ZSL) was down 3.02% to $44.28.
Platinum also gained on Friday. At last check, spot platinum was up 0.40% to $1,683 an ounce. Palladium, meanwhile, gained almost 2% to trade above $754 an ounce.
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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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