Bullion & Business Weekend Report – Feb 21

Precious metals surged forward with New York gold rising above $1,000 Friday for the first time in nearly a year. For the week, the London gold fixing gained 5.7 percent, silver jumped 6.8 percent and platinum climbed 2.9 percent. The Dow lost 6.2 percent, the S&P declined 6.9 percent and the Nasdaq fell 6.1 percent. European stocks closed at 6-year lows.

New York crude-oil for March delivery closed on Friday to $38.94 a barrel, falling 54 cents, or 1.4 percent. Oil gained $1.43 on the week.

AAA said the average price for unleaded gasoline on Saturday settled to $1.925 a gallon compared to $1.85 a month ago and $3.115 one year back.

London silver ended at $14.28 an ounce, rising 91 cents since last Friday’s close.

London gold closed to $989.00 an ounce, gaining $53.50 for the week.

London platinum settled to $1086.00 an ounce, climbing $31.00 on the week.

"There’s a general fear of chaos in the financial system that’s weighing on markets across the globe," William O’Neill, partner at Logic Advisors in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, was quoted on Bloomberg.com. "This is a perfect storm for gold and its flight-to- quality characteristic is coming through."

"The price slide of U.S. equities, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling to its lowest level since October 2002, should result in a continued positive mood of investors on gold," Eugen Weinberg, an analyst at Commerzbank, was quoted on MarketWatch.

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. 13 – Feb. 20)

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:

• Feb. 20 – Gold tops $1,000 for first time in nearly a year – MarketWatch
  Gold futures closed above the key $1,000 mark Friday for the first time in nearly a year, with the global financial and economic worries boosting the safe-haven appeal of the precious metal.

• Feb. 20 – Gold Tops $1,000, Highest Since March, as Global Equities Slide – Bloomberg
  Gold surpassed $1,000 an ounce in New York for the first time in almost a year as investors, hurt by plunging stocks and a deepening recession, sought to protect their wealth.

• Feb. 20 – Presto (four) Digitation and Other Acts of Magic– Jon Nadler, Kitco
  $1007.20 per ounce sounded, and was seen as, even more exciting in some quarters today than the $1033.90 recorded on March 17 of last year. Of course, back then, the stock portfolios of some of the people in those quarters were worth some 40 to 50 percent more… You get the idea of relativity.

• Feb. 20 – Annual inflation rate at 0%, consumer prices rise 0.3% in January
  Diving energy prices drove U.S. consumer prices flat over the past 12 months, marking the lowest inflation rate in more than a half a century, the Labor Department reported Friday. However, energy costs have been ticking upward of late and pulled consumer prices back up in January.

• Feb. 20 – First Spouse Coin Sales Figures – First Spouse Coins
  Demand for First Spouse Gold Coins increased nearly across the board when measured against the week prior, according to the latest United States Mint sales figures.

• Feb. 19 – Lincoln Silver Dollar Coin Sales Pop in US Mint Sales Stats – Silver Coins Today
  2009 Lincoln Silver Dollar Coins launched Thursday, Feb. 12, and coin collectors purchased the silver commemoratives in droves.

• Feb. 19 – Gold American Eagle, UHR and Lincoln Silver Dollar US Mint Sales Figures – CoinNews
  The US Mint is left with two 2008-W American Eagles gold coins in the uncirculated collector series inventory. The 1 oz option sold out Wednesday. Sales were respectable with an increase of 799, or 9.3 percent.

Video: Business week and stocks news by Reuters

Stocks grinded lower on Friday, finishing a 6 percent weekly decline, as investors fear bank nationalization may be inevitable. Friday numbers for the three major US indexes follow:

• The DOW dropped 100.28 points Friday to close at 7,365.67. For the week, the Dow lost 6.2 percent.

• The S&P 500 lost 8.89 points Friday, closing to 770.05. It fell 6.9 percent on the week.

• The NASDAQ fell 1.59 points Friday to finish at 1,441.23. It dropped 6.1 percent from last Friday’s close.

In other world markets:

• The German DAX on Friday lost 200.55 points to close at 4,014.66.

• The Paris CAC 40 on Friday fell 122.05 points to close at 2,750.55.

• And the London FTSE 100 on Friday dropped 129.31 points to close at 3,889.06.

Conway Gittens reports from New York. Speaker: Paul Volcker, key adviser to President Barack Obama

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