Daily Gold Update

Source: Dana Samuelson, American Gold Exchange

Austin, TX— Precious metals prices traded sideways to slightly higher during the New York trading session. An hour later, however, upon the release of the FOMC minutes from the July 31st to August 1st monetary-policy meeting indicating that substantial QE3 discussions did indeed take place, metals surged across the board and the dollar weakened. According to the FOMC minutes, �many members judged that additional monetary accommodation would likely be warranted fairly soon unless incoming information pointed to a substantial and sustainable strengthening in the pace of the economic recovery.� While both were discussed, it remains unclear whether the Fed would further extend its target range for the federal funds rate between 0% and 0.25% beyond the pledged date of late 2014 or embark upon �a new large-scale asset purchase program� commonly referred to as �QE3.� The Fed has clearly been discussing both and more, and is leaving its options on the table.

December gold closed the New York session at $1640.50, down $2.40 from yesterday�s close. Following the release of the FOMC minutes, however, December gold surged another $17.40 to as high as $1,657.90, moving over its 200-day moving average, a technical level many analysts see as critical to gold moving substantially higher again. September silver followed gold�s lead, closing the New York session at $29.57, up $0.138 from yesterdays close. Upon the release of the FOMC minutes silver surged another $0.29 to as high as $29.86 before hitting resistance. This is the exact price that silver reached but did not exceed on June 6th. A move over $29.86 puts silver into clear break out mode. October platinum closed the New York session at $1,526.60, up $19.90 from yesterdays close, then surged another $14.40 to as high as $1,541 following the Fed minutes release. September palladium closed the New York session at $629.50, up $5.75 from yesterdays close. Palladium did reach as high as $634.70 during the New York session but has not surpassed that high since the Fed minutes release. The U.S. dollar index, which had been unchanged at 81.90 prior to the Fed minutes release, fell to as low as 81.42 after the Fed minutes release. So today, the trends that we�ve seen in place for the last several trading sessions, metals higher and the dollar lower, all accelerated once a clearer understanding of what happened at the latest FOMC meeting was revealed. Precious metals continue to hold on to most of their post FOMC minutes release gains as we publish this update.