JOBLESS CLAIMS DROP; GERMAN VOTE ENCOURAGING FOR EURO
Overnight trading was choppy for gold and silver, but the metals have remained mostly flat this morning. U.S. stock futures are pointing to a positive open for Wall Street, after Germany’s parliament approved an enhancement of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).
Also pushing stock futures up is news that unemployment claims dropped by 37,000, finally breaking below 400,000. The four-week moving average that is typically a better indicator of trends fell by 5,250 to 417,000. This comes just after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called the weak labor market a "national crisis.”
Though pushed off the front page, geopolitical issues continue in Yemen as a truce was broken when two people were killed in the capital city of Sanaa. Neighboring Saudi Arabia and the U.S. fear that the unrest could endanger Western interests in the Gulf due to a large al Qaeda wing based in Yemen.
At 8:03 am (CT) the APMEX precious metals spot prices were:
- Gold - $1,617.00 – Down $2.10.
- Silver - $30.45 – Up $0.29.
- Platinum - $1,533.70 – Down $3.50.
- Palladium - $626.10 – Down $10.60.