Bullion & Business Weekend Report – Mar 7

Gold was hit with several days of consecutive losses — eight in New York — until the yellow metal finally turned positive on Thursday. For the week, the London gold fixing finished lower, falling 1.7 percent. However, silver gained 1.9 percent and platinum rose 1.1 percent.

It was another grim week for U.S. stocks. The Dow fell 6.2 percent, the S&P declined 7 percent and the Nasdaq lost 6.1 percent. European stocks ended mixed on Friday.

New York crude-oil for April delivery closed Friday to $45.52 a barrel, gaining $1.91, or 4.4 percent. On the week, oil gained 1.7 percent.

In news for consumers, AAA said the average price for unleaded gasoline on Saturday was $1.946 a gallon compared to $1.907 a month ago and $3.189 one year back.

London silver ended at $13.46 an ounce, rising 25 cents since last Friday’s close.

London gold closed to $936.00 an ounce, falling $16.00 for the week.

London platinum settled to $1071.00 an ounce, gaining $12.00 on the week.

"Gold is being driven by concern about the financial system and lack of confidence in paper currencies," Adrian Day, the president of Adrian Day’s Asset Management in Annapolis, Maryland, was quoted on Bloomberg.com. "All the pressure is on the upside."

"We still expect market conditions to favor gold prices, given uncertainty in both global and financial markets as well as our optimism that central banks will do whatever it takes to bolster liquidity," wrote (and quoted on MarketWatch) Morgan Stanley commodities analysts led by Hussein Allidina.

Gold, considered a hedge during times of high inflation and economic uncertainty, tends to follow oil and move opposite to the U.S. dollar. A rising greenback makes dollar-denominated commodities, like bullion, more expensive for holders of other world currencies.

When prices are falling and economic activities are shrinking, gold prices tend to move lower. London Fix gold is used as a world benchmark for immediate delivery.

Silver, gold and platinum performance charts and tables follow as well as a Reuters weekly business recap video and related precious metal and business article links.

CoinNews London Fix Charts: Silver, Gold and Platinum
(Feb. 27 – Mar. 6)

The London Fix is one of the most used bullion quotes around the world. The London AM fix for gold and platinum begins at 10:30am GMT (5:30am in New York), and the PM fix begins at 3pm GMT (10am in New York). The London Fix for silver begins each business day at 12pm GMT (7am in New York).

London Fix figures: percent and dollar changes

Bullion articles of interest

In related news, interesting or quick-read articles:

• Mar. 6 – Gold tops $940 as jobless data fuel safety buying – MarketWatch
  Gold futures rose Friday above $940 an ounce as investors sought safety in the metal after data showed the U.S. February unemployment rate soared to the highest level in more than 25 years.

• Mar. 6 – Gold Futures Rise for Second Day on Haven Demand; Silver Gains – Bloomberg
  Gold futures rose for the second straight day on demand for the precious metal as an alternative to stocks and government bonds. Silver also gained.

• Mar. 6 – Noble Musings – Jon Nadler, Kitco
  Friday’s markets offered a wide variety of assets moving in many different directions at once. A quick survey shows oil up, the dollar down, the Dow down copper, zinc, and lead down, silver up, platinum up, palladium up.

• Mar. 5 – First Spouse Gold Coin Sales Figures – First Spouse Coins
  First Spouse Gold Coin sales dropped across the board, with numbers that approach ugly. The weakened performance is somewhat expected, however.

• Mar. 5 – Lincoln Silver Dollars Break 335,000 in US Mint Sales – Silver Coins Today
  2009 Lincoln Silver Dollars are heading for a sellout. 335,051 have already sold since Feb. 12 and nearly 100,000 were picked up by collectors since last week’s numbers.

• Mar. 5 – Lincoln Bicentennial Dollar; UHR Double Eagle Sales Figures – CoinNews
  Sales of Lincoln Bicentennial Dollars are screaming along and Ultra High Relief (UHR) Double Eagle Gold coins hit a new milestone. Lincoln Bicentennial Silver Dollar sales figures blasted forward, with…

Video: Business week and world stocks news – Reuters

Wall Street ended mostly higher on Friday even as 651,000 job cuts in February and an 8.1 percent unemployment rate stoked economic concerns. Friday numbers for the three major US indexes follow:

• The DOW gained 32.50 points Friday to close at 6,626.94. For the week, the Dow lost 6.2 percent.

• The S&P 500 climbed 0.83 points Friday, closing to 683.38. It fell 7 percent on the week.

• The NASDAQ fell 5.74 points Friday to finish at 1,293.85. It dropped 6.1 percent from last Friday’s close.

In other world markets:

• The German DAX on Friday lost 29.08 points to close at 3,666.41.

• The Paris CAC 40 on Friday fell 35.18 points to close at 2,534.45.

• And the London FTSE 100 on Friday gained 0.87 points to close at 3,530.73.

Conway Gittens reports from New York. SOUNDBITE: Bob Brusca, chief economist, Fact and Opinion Economics,

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