Friday, August 23, 2013

Gold Runs to 9-Week High on Very Soft New Home Sales

Great.
And who was it that bailed at $1370.50 just four days ago?
$1396.30 up $25.10, last.
From Kitco:

FOCUS: Comex Gold Nears $1,400/Oz After Surprisingly Soft U.S. Home Sales
Gold futures are on the verge of climbing back over $1,400 an ounce Friday for the first time in more than two months after a much weaker-than-forecast report on sales of new U.S. homes created new doubts about how quickly the Federal Reserve might taper its quantitative easing program.

The U.S. dollar and Treasury yields weakened, which in turn tends to support gold.

As of 11:02 a.m. EDT, gold for December delivery was $25.90, or 1.9%, higher at $1,396.70 per ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. September silver was up 65.5 cents, or 2.9%, to $23.69 an ounce.

The surge came after a government report showed that new-home sales fell 13.4% to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 394,000 in July, the lowest since October. Expectations had been for around 485,000. Further, the government revised down the June rate to 455,000 from 497,000.

“The new-home sales fell more than expected,” said Phil Flynn, senior market strategist with Price Futures Group. “People freaked out a little bit.

“When the dollar broke, people bought into the gold. It’s a sign that investment demand is starting to creep back into this market.”

Treasury yields and the dollar fell on ideas that the report could mean the Federal Open Market Committee won’t start tapering next month after all, as many financial-market participants had expected. The euro was up to $1.3397 from $1.3349 five minutes ahead of the report. The 10-year Treasury yield slipped to 2.815% from 2.898% just ahead of time....MORE
 Here's the action at five minute intervals. I'm reminded that there are three types of people:

1) Those who make things happen.
2) Those who watch things happen.
3)Those who ask, "What happened?"

Right now I'm looking for an application to join the third group, if they'll have me.
Via FinViz: