Daily Gold Update

Source: Dr. Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold leapt 1.1% and silver 2.8% as yesterday's accommodative monetary stance by Fed Chair Ben Bernanke encouraged investors to seek additional risk. The dollar and Treasury bonds both fell while equities and commodities rallied, despite data showing jobless claims holding near 2012 highs for the third straight week. Platinum and palladium also rallied strongly, gaining 1.5% and 2.7%, respectively.

At the close: May silver jumped 85 cents to $31.21; July platinum gained $22.90 to $1,570.20; and June palladium added $17.55 to $672.65 an ounce.

Although the FOMC fell short of explicitly endorsing another round of quantitative easing this week, its confirmation that near-zero interest rates will continue through late 2014, along with Bernanke's post-meeting assertion that another round of asset purchases is still "very much on the table," has traders believing additional monetary stimulus is more likely than it was just a few weeks ago. Born of deteriorating U.S. economic data and renewed eurozone worries, this apparent shift in Fed sentiment is bringing energy to a gold market that had been somewhat sleepy in recent weeks. Gold gained more than 85% during QE1 and QE2, the Fed's programs for pushing liquidity into the markets by purchasing more than $2.3 trillion in long-term U.S. bonds. QE3 would likely drive gold to new all-time highs.