Gold moved steadily higher late Tuesday in electronic Globex trading and popped up near $1,625 overnight during Asia-Pacific trading hours. Silver moved sharply higher after hitting an intraday low Tuesday at just below $40.10 per ounce. Spot silver then moved up to around $40.90 in two sharp moves in electronic trading before leveling off at the $40.80 level during Asia-Pacific trading hours.
After steadily making its way lower, to around $1,617 per ounce midway through London morning trading, gold surged upward, to around $1,628, in early morning N.Y. trade Wednesday, after U.S. durable goods orders for June fell 2.1% and negotiations to raise the U.S. debt ceiling appeared far from being settled. Silver followed suit, spiking up to just shy of $41.50 per ounce from around the $40.60 level.
Spot gold was fixed at a new nominal high of $1,625 per ounce Wednesday afternoon in London. Spot silver was set at $40.81 per ounce, the highest price fix since being set at $43.61 on May 3, according to Kitco market data.
Turning to exchange-listed products, gold and silver ETFs were higher in early trading Wednesday.
- The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was up around 0.4%.
- The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was trading roughly in the same range.
- The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was trading around 0.5% higher.
Gold and silver mining ETFs were headed south.
- The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was down about 1.1%.
- The Market Vector Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was off around 2%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was trading about 1.3% lower.
Shares of gold mining majors were moving lower.
- Agnico Eagle Mines (USA) (NYSE:AEM) was down more than 1.3%.
- Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) was nearly 1% lower.
- Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was more than 1.5% lower.
- Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) was down almost 0.4%.
- NovaGold Resources (USA) (AMEX:NG) was down nearly 0.5%.
Silver mining shares were moving lower, as well.
- Coeur D’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE:CDE) was off more than 1.5%.
- Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was trading more than 1.9% lower.
- Pan American Silver Corp. (USA) (NASDAQ:PAAS) was down over 2%.
- Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) (NYSE:SLW) was nearly 1% lower.
- Silver Standard Resources Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:SSRI) was down 3%.
The author does not hold positions in any of the above-mentioned investments.