Daily Gold Update

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold rose 0.2% to close above $1,895 despite rising equities on rekindled hopes for additional fiscal spending on COVID-19 pandemic relief.

President Trump continued to push for limited stimulus after rejecting any further negotiations earlier in the week. Focusing on bailouts for airlines and direct payments of $1,200 to Americans, he told Fox Business Network that talks have turned "very productive."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected the idea of piecemeal measures, however, pushing instead for a comprehensive relief package. Wall Street jumped on the prospect of any help at all, with the Dow and Nasdaq both adding around 0.5% while the S&P 500 rose 0.8%.

The prospect of additional economic aid, coming atop the more than $3 trillion already spent, boosted gold by increasing investor concerns that all the spending will ultimately fuel sharply higher inflation.

The CBO reported the US budget deficit jumped to a record $3.1 trillion in the 2020 budget year, which just ended. At 15.2% of GDP the deficit was the largest relative to the economy since 1945, the last year of WWII.

First-time jobless claims dipped a little last week to 840,000 but remain extraordinarily high for this stage in the recovery.

The other precious metals were mixed, with silver and platinum slipping o.1% and 0.3%, respectively, while palladium rose 0.9%.

At the Comex close: December gold gained by $4.30 to $1,895.10; December silver dipped 2 cents to $23.88; January platinum dropped $2.80 to $864; and December palladium rose $20.90 to $2,403 an ounce.