Morning Gold & Silver Market Report – 5/19/2011

JOBLESS CLAIMS DOWN; IMF CHIEF RESIGNS

The weekly jobless claims report was released this morning, and showed an improvement from last week.  New jobless claims were at 409,000, down from 434,000, and about 11,000 better than forecast.  However, the four-week moving average, often seen as a better indicator of trends, increased to 439,000, which is a six-month high.  Stocks were up this morning as investors await the reports of the day, which also include the Philadelphia Fed Index of business activity for May and the National Association of Realtors report on existing-home sales for April.

In a move that perhaps shocked no one, Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, citing the need to protect his innocence after being charged with sexual assault on May 14.  The trend of Europeans leading the IMF looks to continue, as France’s Christine Legarde is the leading candidate for the job.  As mentioned yesterday, emerging-market nations (like China, Russia, Brazil, and India) are likely going to call for the end to that pattern as they seek higher influence in the fund.

At 8:06 AM (CT) the APMEX precious metals spot prices were:

• Gold – $1,490.10 (down $7.20 on the day)
• Silver – $35.26 (up $0.08)
• Platinum – $1,769.00 (down $11.90)
• Palladium – $739.80 (down $1.50)