Daily Gold Update

Source: Dr. Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold edged up 0.1%, building on last week's 4% rally, as speculation that the Fed will postpone reductions in quantitative easing, perhaps until next year, spurred demand for alternative stores of value. Chicago Fed president Charles Evans reiterated that an October taper is all but off the table because of a lack of information following the 16-day shutdown of government services that collect and disseminate economic data. Gold was also supported by falling U.S. home sales and a report from HSBC Holdings forecasting greater demand for gold in Asia to hedge against rising inflation.

Many economists now expect the taper to be delayed until mid-March 2014, according to a recent Bloomberg survey, in part because of the economic fallout from the bitter budgetary impasse in Washington. The closure shaved around 0.3% off fourth-quarter growth and damaged consumer confidence. QE supports higher prices for precious metals because it devalues the dollar by flooding the economy with cheap liquidity, increasing the risk of long-term inflation. The other precious metals also gained today, with silver and palladium jumping 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively, while platinum inched up 0.1%

At the Comex close: December gold edged up $1.20 to $1,315.80; December silver jumped 37 cents to $22.28 January platinum added 80 cents to $1,438.60; and December palladium climbed $9.60 to $750.25 an ounce.