Daily Gold Update

Source: Dana Samuelson, American Gold Exchange

Austin, TX— Gold edged $5.10 or 0.4% lower today while the dollar traded sideways and oil gained modestly, as traders continued to position themselves in advance of Fed Chair Janet Yellen�s speech tomorrow titled �The Federal Reserve�s Monetary Policy Toolkit.�

The dollar lost 0.15% to the euro, gained 0.09% against the yen, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was almost flat with a 0.05% decline. Oil gained $0.54 or 1.2% and stocks were modestly lower with the Dow off 33.07 or 0.18% and the S&P 500 down 2.95 or 0.14%.

U.S. jobless claims dropped by 1,000 to 261,000, their lowest level in five weeks, signaling that the U.S. employment continues to strengthen as fewer workers lost their jobs last week. In another positive sign for the U.S. economy, orders for durable goods jumped 4.4% in July following a revised 4.2% drop in June. While orders for durable goods can be volatile, because they include aircraft, orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft increased 1.6% last month, the largest gain since January. This increase comes on the heels of a 0.5% June increase, the first back to back gains since January 2015, and signals that companies are more willing to boost spending.

These positive U.S. economic news releases boosted the dollar which in turn pressured gold in early New York trading and markets were mostly sideways thereafter.

At the Comex close: December gold fell $5.10 to $1,324.60; December lost 6 cents to $18.63; October platinum dropped $5.20 to $1,077.00; September palladium gained $2.50 to $685.00 an ounce.