Gold was mostly range-bound Thursday morning, trading above and below $1,620 per ounce, while silver was moving higher throughout morning trade.
News that European leaders continue to haggle over details of a plan to address the euro zone debt crisis was being weighed against the first drop in U.S. weekly unemployment claims since the week ended Oct. 15, a much stronger report on regional business activity from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, and a Conference Board report that showed leading economic indicators rose 0.2% in September following a 0.3% August increase.
Spot gold was down 1.25% Thursday morning, having hit a high of $1,628.70 and a low of $1,614.40. Spot gold was bid at $1,622.20 with an ask price of $1,623.20 at 10:30 a.m., while the London p.m. reference price fix came in at $1,620 per ounce, according to Kitco market data.
Spot silver was down 0.35% and trading at $31.12 Bid, $31.22 Ask, having hit a morning high of $31.48 and a low of $30.50. Wednesday’s reference price was set at $30.79 in the London a.m.
Gold trusts were lower, but the iShares Silver Trust (AMEX:SLV) was higher in exchange trading.
- The SPDR Gold Trust (AMEX:GLD) was more than 1.1% lower.
- The iShares Gold Trust (AMEX:IAU) was nearly 1.2% lower.
- The iShares Silver Trust was up about 0.3%.
Gold and silver mining ETFs were mixed.
- The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (AMEX:GDX) was around 0.5% lower.
- The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (AMEX:GDXJ) was showing a small gain of around 0.1%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF (AMEX:SIL) was higher by more than 0.6%.
Shares of gold miners were lower, with NovaGold Resources (USA) (AMEX:NG) once again doing its best to move against the grain.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines (USA) (NYSE:AEM) was down another 3.6% after yesterday’s nearly 19% beating.
- Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) was around 1.1% lower.
- Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was about 0.8% lower.
- Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) was more than 1% lower.
- NovaGold Resources was moving between losses and gains of 0.3%.
Silver miners’ shares were down for the fourth consecutive morning, with Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) (NYSE:SLW) the exception.
- Coeur D’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE:CDE) was down slightly, around 0.1% lower.
- Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was down around 0.6%.
- Pan American Silver Corp. (USA) (NASDAQ:PAAS) was around 1.4% lower.
- Silver Wheaton Corp. was showing gains of around 0.8%.
- Silver Standard Resources Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:SSRI) was showing losses of around 2.4%.
As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not own a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.