Gold settles at four month highs
Bullion metals ended sharply higher on Thursday, 10 July 2014. Gold futures jumped sharply on Thursday to their highest settlement in nearly four months amid a pullback in U.S. stocks. Traders and investors are keeping a closer eye on the Middle East, as Israel has launched a military offensive on the Gaza strip. Gold may be seeing some safe-haven demand due to the latest military action by Israel.
Gold for August delivery climbed $14.90, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,339.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
September silver added 44 cents, or 2.1%, to end at $21.51 an ounce.
The focal point for the market place this week is the FOMC meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve that were out on Wednesday afternoon. The minutes showed the Fed is likely to end its monthly bond-buying program in October of this year. This news was not unexpected and the market place showed little reaction. Traders and investors gleaned little fresh insight on when the Fed might decide to raise its interest rates for the first time in years.
Among economic reports expected for the day, the initial claims level fell to 304,000 from an unrevised 315,000, while the consensus expected the claims level to fall to 311,000. Over the past several weeks, claims have stabilized between 310,000 and 320,000. While claims came in below this level, it was likely due to normal volatility stemming from the Independence Day holiday and not a change in trend The continuing claims level increased to 2.584 million from a downwardly revised 2.574 million (from 2.579 million), while the consensus expected continuing claims to slip to 2.567 million.
Separately, Wholesale inventories increased 0.5% in May following a downwardly revised 1.0% (from 1.1%) in April. The consensus expected wholesale inventories to increase 0.5%. The increase in inventories came predominantly from a 1.9% increase in automotive inventories and a 2.1% increase in metals.
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