Bullion & Business Weekend Report – Nov. 7

Precious metals rallied this week following a weaker US dollar that was pushed lower by a series of economic reports, including the Labor Department’s higher than expected unemployment figures of 10.2 percent — a more than 26-year high. Gold reached an all-time high and silver soared. Crude oil tumbled on Friday by nearly 3 percent but still managed to post a small weekly gain. In stocks for the week, European indexes were higher and the three major US indexes advanced more than 3 percent.

In London bullion weekly figures, gold jumped 5.5 percent, silver surged 5.8 percent and platinum rose 2.0 percent. Friday precious metals prices follow:

London silver closed to $17.53 an ounce, rising 95 cents from last Friday’s close. New York December silver futures ended at $17.375 for a weekly increase of $1.12.

London gold was fixed at $1,096.75 an ounce and rose $56.75 this week. New York gold for December delivery finished at $1,095.70 for a weekly advance of $55.30.

London platinum ended at $1,347.00 an ounce, climbing $27.00 since last Friday’s close. New York platinum for January delivery ended at $1,348.20, gaining $21.90 on the week.

"We believe the rally in gold prices will continue," Michael Lewis, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG in London, said in a report that was cited on Bloomberg.com. "Further advances in the gold price will be based on fresh lows in the U.S. dollar, central bank buying of gold" and "increasing inflation volatility."

"With unemployment at 10%, the implications for Fed policy is that they have their hands tied and cannot defend the dollar," Joe Foster, manager of the Van Eck International Investors Gold Fund said on MarketWatch.com. "We’re going to see lots of new records going forward."

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.

To follow are silver, gold and platinum performance charts, oil news, week-ending world stock summaries, and precious metal article summaries.

London Fix Charts: Silver, Gold and Platinum
(Oct 30 – Nov 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*

Weekly World Business News: Oil, Gasoline, and Stocks Prices

Crude oil plunged Friday "after data showed the U.S. unemployment rate topped 10% in October, raising worries about petroleum demand" wrote Moming Zhou of MarketWatch.com.

"The unemployment report raises fears that there will be a double dip to the recession," Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts, was quoted on Bloomberg.com. "This doesn’t bode well for consumption of commodities such as oil."

New York oil for December delivery fell $2.19, or 2.8 percent, to close at $77.43 a barrel. For the week, however, oil managed a slight 0.6 percent gain.

Prices at the pump fell a half penny between Friday and Saturday. The national average for unleaded gasoline was $2.674 a gallon, according to a AAA fuel report. The price is 2 cents less than last week, 20.6 cents higher than a month back, and 36 cents more than a year ago.

U.S. stocks rose and "snapped a two-week losing streak Friday as a surge in General Electric nudged the Dow Jones Industrial Average back above 10,000, marking its first weekly close above that level since the early days of the credit crisis, " wrote Peter McKay and Geoffrey Rogow, MarketWatch.com.

"The spike in the unemployment rate was a shock to the market," Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors, was quoted on CNNMoney.com. "But once investors looked at it and digested it, they were able to take a more measured response."

For the week, the Dow and S&P both advanced 3.2 percent. The Nasdaq rose 3.3 percent.

Friday figures for the three major US indexes follow:

• The Dow rose 17.46 points to close at 10,023.42.

• The S&P increased 2.67 points, closing at 1,069.30.

• The NASDAQ climbed 7.12 points to finish at 2,112.44.

And in other world markets, indexes recorded weekly gains but ended mixed on Friday as the following figures show:

• The German DAX advanced 7.33 points to close at 5,488.25.

• The Paris CAC 40 fell 1.44 points, to close at 3,707.29.

• And the London FTSE 100 jumped 17.08 points to finish at 5,142.72.

Wall Street rallied 3 percent this week as a surge in the unemployment rate to a 26-year high did little to dent economic recovery hopes. Conway Gittens of Reuters reports on this, world stocks and other business news in the following video. Sound bite is Aneta Markowska of Societe Generale.

Bullion and Business Articles

In related silver and gold news, interesting or quick-read articles from the week include:

• Gold taps record as U.S. joblessness hits 10% – MarketWatch
  Bullion tops $1,100 mark for first time as easy money seems assured. Gold futures finished at a record Friday, after earlier tapping $1,100 an ounce, as news that the U.S. unemployment rate topped 10.2% in October lifted expectations the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates near zero …

• Gold Advances to Record in New York, London After Jobs Data – Bloomberg
  Gold rose to a record in New York and London trading after a report showed U.S. employers cut more jobs than forecast in October, boosting demand for the metal as store of value. Bullion is heading for a ninth consecutive annual gain and approaching $1,100 an ounce for the first time as investors …

• Class Is Now In Session – Jon Nadler, Kitco
  Speculation early this morning was that U.S. employers likely have cut only 150,000 jobs in the month of October, a figure which would be the lowest in more than a year. The worst labor-market slump since the 1930s is now seen as possibly bottoming out, and the possibility of future consumer spending is …

• US Gold Coins Shine, Mint Set Hits Half Million – CoinNews
  The latest batch of US Mint sales figures are out and jumping to the forefront are gold coins — both bullion and collector. The bullion Silver Eagles are moving along as well. The US Mint Set and Proof Set continue with strength, with the former smashing through the 500,000 barrier. These and other highlights follow: …

• US First Spouse Gold Coin Sales Improve – First Spouse Coins
  First Spouse Gold Coins recovered from last week’s low. The United States Mint sold almost twice as many this time. Plus, there was not any negative numbers reported due to customer returns, cancellations, etc. Sarah Polk Proof sales increased by 113, coming in at the top spot for best seller. The second highest increase went to …

• American Silver Eagles Top 23.4 Million – Silver Coins Today
  Breaking a recent October "up or down only" trend but returning to a more normalized pattern in general, the latest US Mint sales stats show mixing with fluctuating demand based on the type of collector silver coins. As for investor minted American Silver Eagle bullion coins, they have enjoyed stronger demand during the last seven …

• Buffalo Gold Proof Sales Hit 19.5K – CoinNews
  Inaugural sales of the 2009 American Buffalo Gold Proof Coin are exceptionally strong, according to newly released figures by the United States Mint. Four-day sales of the 24-karat, .9999 fine gold collector coin came in at 19,468 — a tad shy of surpassing figures for the one-ounce 2008 Proof Buffalo Gold. The proof coin went on sale Thursday …

• Silver Eagle Bullion Coins Hit 2.9M – Silver Coins Today
  2009 American Silver Eagle Coins registered another new record last month. The US Mint sold 2,939,000 of the bullion coins, which is the most ever for an October month stretching back the creation of the series in 1986. The milestone denotes the eighth time this year where a best ever monthly record has been achieved …

• US Inflation Remains ‘Subdued’, Says Fed – US Inflation
  The Federal Reserve ended its two-day meeting Wednesday, and as expected the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) did not raise interest rates. Further, in an exact parallel to its last statement, it noted that US inflation remained under control, stating …

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