Bullion & Business Weekend Report – March 6, 2010

Metals rallied this week with the euro and dollar swinging back and forward on various news items surrounding the management of Greece’s debt crisis. The currency volatility and tug of war action made gold a weekly winner. The yellow metal also took note of Friday’s better-than-expected jobs report from the U.S. Labor Department, which increased investors’ risk appetite, so opined players.

The U.S. jobs data moved more then metals on Friday. New York crude oil topped $81 a barrel and hit a price point not seen since January 11. U.S. stocks rallied driving the Nasdaq to an 18-month high while the Dow and S&P reached levels last visited on January 20. European stocks registered gains for the week as well.

In weekly New York metals prices, April gold advanced $16.30, or 1.5 percent, to end at $1,135.20 an ounce. Silver for May delivery finished at $17.382 an ounce, soaring 86 cents, or 5.2 percent. April platinum climbed $39.20, or 2.5 percent, to close at $1,579.10 an ounce.

"The shift in sovereign risk away from Greece on Friday has helped support gold, and risk appetite is higher because of the better-than-expected job number," James Steel, chief commodities analyst at HSBC, said on Reuters.

"Owing to concerns over the fiscal deficit of several European countries, gold is likely to remain in high demand as a safe haven," analysts at Commerzbank said in a note cited on MarketWatch.

In weekly London bullion prices, gold was fixed to $1,135.00 an ounce, rising $26.75, or 2.4 percent. Silver jumped $1.13, or 7.0 percent, to $17.25 an ounce. Platinum settled at $1,578.00 an ounce, advancing $45.00, or 2.9 percent

"The gold price is trading at excessively rich levels of valuation when measured on a foreign-exchange basis," Deutsche Bank AG said in a report cited on Bloomberg. "We are skeptical of the ability of the gold price to rally in an environment where the dollar is strengthening and inflows into physically backed ETFs have stalled."

"The heat stays on in the speculative trading pits and volatility will not be lacking next week," wrote Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals, Inc.

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

London Fix Charts: Silver, Gold and Platinum

(February 26 – March 5)

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 Precious Metals Prices

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

Oil prices gained on Friday, "buoyed by U.S. jobs data and positive comments from Chinese officials about economic growth," wrote Polya Lesova and Laura Mandaro of MarketWatch.

New York crude-oil for April delivery jumped $1.29, or 1.6 percent, to close to $81.50 a barrel. The price is 2.3 percent more than last week, and the highest level since January 11.

"The [jobless] figures were better than expected, and that’s boosted oil prices," Mike Wittner, head of oil market research at Societe Generale SA in London, said on Bloomberg. "Fewer job losses than forecast is positive in the short term for U.S. GDP, and therefore the outlook for oil demand."

Prices at the pump soared 1.6 cents between Friday and Saturday. The national average for regular unleaded gasoline is $2.736 a gallon, according to a AAA fuel report. The price is 3.3 cents higher than last week, 7.7 cents more than a month back, and 79.6 cents above that of a year ago.

U.S. stocks surged on Friday,"after a government report showed employers cut fewer positions last month than had been expected, in the latest sign that the pace of job cuts is slowing," wrote Alexandra Twin of CNNMoney.com.

"I think this number will set the tone for the whole month," Alan Valdes, head of floor operations at the New York Stock Exchange for Kabrick Trading, said on MarketWatch. "I think you’ll see volume pick up, and a lot of portfolio managers that have missed out will feel like now is the time to finally get in."

For the week, the Dow jumped 2.3 percent, the S&P surged 3.1 percent and the Nasdaq rallied 3.9 percent.

Friday closing figures for the three major US indexes follow:

• The Dow gained 122.06 points to close at 10,566.20.

• The S&P rose 15.73 points to finish at 1,138.70.

• The NASDAQ climbed 34.04 points to end at 2,326.35.

And in other world markets:

• The German DAX rose 82.04 points to close at 5,877.36.

• The Paris CAC 40 advanced 82.01 points to close at 3,910.42.

• The London FTSE 100 gained 72.60 points to finish at 5,599.76.

For the week, the DAX gained 5.0 percent, the CAC 40 advanced 5.4 percent and the FTSE 100 rose 4.6 percent.

Bullion and Business Articles

In related bullion, business and United States Mint news, interesting or quick-read articles from the week include:

• Upside-Down Views and Hot Pics From Down Under – Jon Nadler, Kitco Metals Inc.
  Gold’s overnight range tightened a bit further, as risk aversion ahead of the US payroll data kept speculators largely sidelined. While the short squeeze in the euro appears to have run out of most of its steam, the dollar remained firm near 80.50 on the trade-weighted index as its traders were also reluctant to dismiss Thursday’s impressive turnaround and cash in on their gains before learning what the jobs picture might look like this morning.
  
  
  Greece-oriented worries continued to underpin the generally cautious mood and albeit the trade appeared bearish on the US jobs data (weather is thought to have wreaked some short-term havoc with the numbers — havoc to the tune of perhaps 50,000 to 90,000 jobs) one Aussie currency trader cautioned that with that kind of ‘X-factor’ in the equation, the data could ‘throw anything up.’ …

• US Mint Ships 84,000 Gold Eagles in February
  The latest United States Mint bullion coin sales figures have been released and the stats show authorized buyers purchased 84,000 American Eagle Gold coins during February 2010, which was 1,000 less than the prior month. Atypical from other years is that the tally includes both 2009 and 2010-dated coins. This year was the first time in the U.S. Mint’s history of selling the gold coins that a current year’s eagles were not offered during the first week of January. Exceptional demand for the eagles in 2009 resulted in a delayed release of 2010s …

• US Silver Coins Rise, Gold Coins Slow
  Sprinting past all other collectible coins to easily become the United States Mint sales leader in just three days were the American Veterans Disabled for Life Silver Dollars. Nearing 100K from their launch last Thursday through to Sunday, 66,209 proof and 32,149 uncirculated coins were ordered — very sound starting numbers. Compared to last year’s commemoratives, the debuting level was a bit more than half that of the popular Lincoln Silver Dollars, and more than double that of the Louis Braille Silver Dollars. The Lincolns eventually sold out. The Braille’s did not, but their figures were solid, nevertheless …

Check out other site market resources at Bullion Prices, US Silver Coin Melt Calculator and the US Inflation Calculator which easily finds how the buying power of the dollar has changed from 1913-2010.