Daily Gold Update

Source:Matt Warden, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold found support overnight near $1,780 before rallying higher during US trading hours to finish the day at $1,795.20, up 0.2% from yesterday's close. Gold continues its wait-and-see approach ahead of the Jackson Hole summit tomorrow where Federal Reserve officials are expected to comment on their quantitative easing policies and progress made towards their maximum employment goals. Federal Reserve policy expectations are mixed as weaker than expected incoming economic readings are offset by rising inflation and inflation expectations.

US jobless claims for the week ending August 21 rose for the first time in five weeks, increasing by 4,000 to 353,000 claims. New weekly jobless claims are well below the early January 2021 peak of more than 900,000 per week but still far higher than pre-pandemic starts of around 220,000 claims a week.

The first update to the 2nd quarter GDP estimate was also released today, adjusted higher to 6.6% from the first reading of 6.5% a month ago, but still well below original Q2 GDP estimates of 8.5% growth. Core personal consumption expenditures (PCE), the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation measure, was also revised in the GDP update to 6.1%, the highest inflation reading since 1983.

The US dollar and benchmark 10-yr US Treasury rates were mostly stable ahead of tomorrow's Jackson Hole summit, the dollar up slightly to 93.07 from 92.9 yesterday while 10-yr Treasury rates remained unchanged.

The other precious metals drifted lower, with silver down 0.9%, palladium down 1.7%, and platinum down 1.8%.

At the Comex close: December gold gained $4.20 to $1,795.20; September silver shed 23 cents to $23.55; October platinum lost $18 to $975.50; and September palladium declined $42.40 to $2,388.30 an ounce.