Gold, Commodities Decline; Stocks Rally

Gold declined nearly $6 Thursday, breaking away from a four-day winning streak as the US dollar gained ground. Silver and platinum also fell, as did crude oil which retreated from a one-year high. US stocks rallied on positive news from several corporate earnings reports.

New York precious metals figures follow:

• Silver for December delivery fell 28 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $17.545 an ounce. It ranged from $17.365 to $17.790.

• Gold for December delivery declined $5.90, or 0.6 percent, to $1,058.60 an ounce. The yellow metal ranged from $1,052 to $1,062.40.

• January platinum edged lower by $4.50, or 0.3 percent, to $1,369.90 an ounce.

The most notable bullion quotes of the day follow:

 

"A stronger U.S. dollar shall unleash strong gold sellers," Dennis Gartman, an economist in Suffolk, Virginia, and the editor of the Gartman Letter, was quoted on Bloomberg.

"There’s some intermediate profit-taking going on. Any time you get a little bit of a dollar bounce, you see gold sell off," Zach Oxman, managing director at TrendMax Futures, a commodities trading firm in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif, was quoted on MarketWatch.

 

In London bullion, the benchmark gold price was fixed earlier in the day to $1,053.00 an ounce, which was a decline of 75 cents. Silver was at $17.550 an ounce for a 16 cent gain. Platinum was fixed $12.00 higher to $1,358.00 an ounce.

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.

Oil and gasoline prices

Oil prices fell Thursday from a one-year high "weekly data showed a worse-than-expected picture in employment and as the U.S. dollar rebounded against other major currencies," wrote Polya Lesova and Moming Zhou of MarketWatch.

Paul Burkhardt from Bloomberg also wrote that there was speculation OPEC members may increase production.

 

"OPEC will want to prevent prices from rising too high," Lawrence Eagles, global head of commodities research at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, was quoted. "OPEC has a great incentive not to see the transport sector become less dependent on oil."

 

New York crude-oil for December delivery fell 12 cents, or 0.1 percent to $81.84 a barrel. Oil soared $2.25 on Wednesday.

The national average for unleaded gasoline rose 2 cents to $2.616 a gallon, according to AAA fuel data. The price is 12.9 cents higher than last week, 7.2 cents more than a month back, but 24 cents lower than a year ago.

U.S. Stocks

U.S. stocks rallied "as better-than-expected results from four components pushed the Dow industrials above 10,000 again and reassured investors about the ongoing corporate reporting period," wrote Alexandra Twin, senior writer for CNNMoney.com.

 

"I do feel optimistic that profit growth is real and will spur a broader recovery," Jeffrey Davis, who oversees $4.6 billion as chief investment officer at Lee Munder Capital Group in Boston, was quoted on Bloomberg. "You have a ton of liquidity, economic fundamentals are in place and that should be supportive for stocks."

 

The Dow Jones industrial average advanced 131.95 points, or 1.33 percent, to 10,081.31. The S&P 500 Index rose 11.51 points, or 1.06 percent, to 1,092.91. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 14.56 points, or 0.68 percent, to 2,165.29.

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