Gold & Other Metals Jump After Bernanke remarks (GLD, SLV, GG, AUY, NG, HL, PAAS, SLW, FCX, SCCO)
Gold prices turned over 1% higher after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke remarked that positive latest trends in the U.S. labor market may not last.
Gold for April delivery soared $18 to $1,680.30 an ounce in European trading hours. On Friday, the yellow metal closed higher by 1.20%. However, it is still down over 3% so far this month.
Bernanke said in a speech to a gathering of business economists that the gains in the labor market since last fall could be due to large layoffs from earlier in the recession reversing and that faster economic growth may be the key to further improvements. “We cannot yet be sure that the recent pace of improvement in the labor market will be sustained,” Bernanke said.
Other commodity futures also rebounded after recent falls, with copper for May delivery surged 5 cents to $3.84 a pound. April platinum climbed $11.70 to $1,639.60 an ounce.
May silver futures climbed 39 cents at $32.66 an ounce.
In currencies, the ICE dollar index fell 0.21 to 79.10.
Also, this morning analyst at Macquarie recommended a Buy on Gold, noting sentiment towards the metal has reached “extreme pessimism” levels. March is seasonably a poor month for gold and the Fed at a minimum is on hold through 2014 and may even ease more.
SPDR Gold Trust (ETF)(NYSEARCA:GLD) surged 1.51 (0.93%) to $163.04 , iShares Silver Trust (ETF)(NYSEARCA:SLV) rose 1.57% to $31.23.
Goldcorp Inc. (USA)(NYSE:GG) climbed 2% to $45.45, Yamana Gold Inc. (USA)(NYSE:AUY) gained over 2% to $16.25 and NovaGold Resources Inc. (USA)(NYSEAMEX:NG) surged over 3%.
Hecla Mining Company(NYSE:HL) rose about 2%, Pan American Silver Corp. (USA)(NASDAQ:PAAS) increased 1.66% to $22 and Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA)(NYSE:SLW) climbed over 2%.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.(NYSE:FCX) surged 1.56% and Southern Copper Corporation(NYSE:SCCO) added 1.26% to $31.35.
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