Gold Prices Spike In Early Trading

[Barron]

There’s always a risk pointing to a gold spike early in the trading day because, by the time you read this, it can be gone.

Nevertheless, gold was up $29.09 yesterday morning to $1,582.20, silver was up $0.94 to $27.26, and that brings the silver/gold ratio to 58.

The surge in gold prices can be traced to a sudden recovery in the euro, which vaulted back against the dollar in overnight trading. Crude oil is up nearly 4 percent in early trading and commodities, almost across the board, are soaring.

While everyone was paying attention to the health care decision in the U.S., European finance ministers inked a new plan to deal with the Euro-zone banking crisis. The details are sketchy but the plan is to lower the borrowing costs of banks in trouble and signals more flexibility from Germany in how to meet the crisis.

The optimism in Europe is countered by more data suggesting spending by consumers stalled in May due to sluggish job growth.

Hopefully you locked in gold prices for your regular buy yesterday or earlier in the week, though if you’re holding physical gold for long periods, then $30 one way or the other isn’t that significant.

Whether the uptrend continues will depend on how solid today’s financing deal seems in the light of a new trading week. Given the history of European cooperation, gains like these can disappear rather quickly.

Still, it’s nice to close out the week with a nice pop. If these early gains hold through the day, we’ll end higher for the week. In the investment world we find ourselves in these days, take any good news where you can find it.

To me that sounds like the perfect excuse to knock off early today and get a jump on the weekend.

Chris Poindexter