Gold and silver were heading lower Thursday morning as Greece’s tortuous budget and debt negotiations continue and amid several positive U.S. economic reports.
Spot gold was 0.5% lower Thursday morning, bid at $1,719.10 with an ask price of $1,720.10. Spot gold traded as high as $1,722.30 and as low as $1,704.30. The London morning fixed reference price came in at $1,716, $9.50 per ounce lower than Wednesday’s afternoon price fix, according to .
Spot silver was showing a 1.58% loss, bid at $32.97 per ounce with an ask price of $33.07. The morning high as of time of writing was $33.29 and the low was $32.56. Thursday’s reference price was set at $33.18 in the London a.m., 51 cents per ounce below Wednesday’s reference price fix.
The Labor Department reported that seasonally adjusted for unemployment insurance dropped to 348,000, a 13,000 weekly decrease from the previous week’s revised 361,000. The four-week moving average was 365,250, slightly down from the previous week’s revised average of 367,000.
The Commerce Department reported that rose a greater-than-expected 699,000 in January, a 1.5% monthly increase over December’s revised 689,000 estimate and up 9.9% year-over-year. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that for finished goods rose a less-than-expected 0.1% on a monthly basis in January.
Spain had its full allotment of three-year treasury notes, though at nearly a half-percent higher than its last such auction in early February. France’s auction of two-year notes also saw solid bidding, with yields below 1%. Spain’s economy is contracting, however, while Greece recently reported a 7% decline in Q4 GDP. The Spanish economy contracted for the first time in two years, with GDP falling 0.3%. That’s raising concerns that tough austerity measures, at this point in time, are driving EU economies over the brink.
“Germany is acting as a task-master imposing tough fiscal discipline. This will generate both economic and political tensions that could destroy the European Union … and push Europe into a deflationary debt spiral,” famed investment manager George Soros at last month’s World Economic Forum in Davos, according to a Bloomberg report.
Gold and silver trusts were moving lower in stock exchange trading.
- The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:) was moving lower, down more than 0.9%.
- The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:) was showing losses of around 0.6%.
- The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:) was down nearly 0.9%.
The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:) was moving up, while the junior gold and silver mining ETFs were moving lower.
- The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF was around 0.4% higher.
- The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:) was showing losses of some 0.1%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:) was down more than 0.8%.
Gold mining shares were broadly higher, with Kinross Gold (NYSE:) up sharply off news of a despite posting a larger net loss for Q4 2011.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:) was showing gains of some 1.23%.
- Barrick Gold (NYSE:) was down around 1%.
- Eldorado Gold (NYSE:) was trading flatly.
- Goldcorp (NYSE:) was up some 2.8%.
- Kinross Gold was surging higher, up more than 6%.
- Newmont Mining (NYSE:) was down around 0.2%.
- NovaGold Resources (AMEX:) was up more than 0.9%.
- Yamana Gold (NYSE:) was up more than 0.7%.
Silver mining shares were heading higher, Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:) the exception.
- Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:) was moving higher, up nearly 1.7%.
- Hecla Mining (NYSE:) was moving higher, up more than 1.4%.
- Pan American Silver was fluctuating between small gains and losses.
- Silver Wheaton (NYSE:) was up around 0.3%.
- Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:) was moving higher, up around 0.6%.
As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault contributed to this report.
