Daily Gold Update

Source: Dr. Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold edged higher to close above $1,247 and then climbed another $14 in electronic trade after the minutes from last week's FOMC meeting signaled unexpected support for continued monetary stimulus. While some Fed members said they'd be comfortable ending quantitative easing (QE) this year, many indicated a desire for greater improvement in the job market before starting to taper. With unemployment pegged at 7.6%, investors took this consensus to mean easing is here to stay for some time.

Gold has been under considerable pressure in recent weeks, and the dollar has been rallying, because of expectations that the Fed will soon reduce its program of buying $85 billion in long-term bonds each month. Tantamount to printing money, QE has helped to support much higher gold prices because it undermines the value of the dollar and adds to long-term inflation risk. Today's release of the Fed minutes helped to diminish those expectations, however, weakening the dollar and lifting gold to a third straight winning session. Silver added 0.1% while platinum finished virtually flat and palladium gained 2.4%.

At the Comex close: August gold edged up $1.50 to $1,247.40; September silver added 3 cents to $19.17 October platinum slipped 50 cents to $1,368.10; and September palladium gained $16.45 to $713.80 an ounce.