An offer from congressional Republicans to temporarily increase the U.S. debt ceiling — postponing the chance of a historic U.S. default — reassured investors Thursday. The U.S. dollar climbed during the day, while gold moved lower on fading safe-haven appeal.
The GOP proposal would give Congress and the White House an additional six weeks to reach a budget agreement without risking the nation’s credit rating and dollar’s status as a reserve currency. The Obama administration said it would consider the deal. Equities markets surged on news of the proposal.
Gold futures for December delivery fell 0.8% to $1,296.90 per ounce on Thursday, according to . Gold traded as high as $1,312 and as low as $1,293.40. Bullion closed in London at $1,289, according to .
Silver futures for December delivery rose half a cent to $21.90 per ounce. Thursday’s high for silver was $22.25, while the low was $21.72.
Metal funds pulled back in Thursday trading.
- The SPDR Gold Shares () slid 1.5%.
- The iShares Gold Trust () moved down 1.3%.
- The iShares Silver Trust () dipped 1.1%.
Mining ETFs were declined during the day.
- The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF () dropped 1.6%.
- The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF () fell 1%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF () fell 0.5%.
Gold mining shares mostly sank on Thursday.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines () sank 0.4%.
- Barrick Gold () gained 1%.
- Eldorado Gold () fell 0.8%.
- Goldcorp () dropped 1.7%.
- Kinross Gold () moved down 1.3%.
- Newmont Mining () slid 0.8%.
- NovaGold Resources () edged lower 0.5%.
- Yamana Gold () tumbled 3.1%.
Silver mining shares were mixed during the day.
- Coeur d’Alene Mines () fell 0.4%.
- Hecla Mining () rose 0.3%.
- Pan American Silver () gained 0.4%.
- Silver Wheaton () dropped 0.9%.
- Silver Standard Resources () rose 0.2%.
As of this writing, Christopher Freeburn did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of contributed to this report.
