Daily Gold Update

Source: Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold slid 0.4%, closing under $1,160, as risk appetite returned to global markets after China stabilized its plunging stock markets and the EU rekindled hopes that Greece may remain in the Eurozone.

China's equity markets rose after five days of dramatic sell-offs, backstopped by a series of government measures to increase liquidity and prevent panic. The rebound instilled some confidence among investors that the Chinese economy will not be crippled by the recent turmoil its financial sector.

Talks between Greece and the EU took a somewhat more optimistic turn after Germany conceded that debt restructuring will be necessary for the struggling Greek economy, and should be included as part of any new loan program. Germany had heretofore taken a hard line against changing the yield or term on existing Greek debt.

Wall Street rose on the better global news, diminishing demand for safe-haven assets, as the Dow and S&P 500 picked up around 0.4%. The dollar rose around 0.4% against major rivals, further pressuring gold and other commodities denominated in it for international trade by making them more expensive to users of other currencies.

Gold's slide was stemmed by reports that U.S. jobless claims rose last week to the highest level since February, adding new doubts about the strength of the labor market recovery and increasing the odds that the Fed will push its first interest rate increase beyond September. Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota said today the central bank is unlikely to meet its goals on inflation and employment. Separately, Charles Evans of the Chicago Fed called again for delaying the first hike until mid-2016.

The other precious metals were mixed. Platinum and palladium fell 1.2% and 2.4%, respectively, while silver jumped 1.3%. Demand for physical silver has been strongly rising since the price broke below $16 an ounce two weeks ago�so much so that the U.S. Mint, unable to keep up with demand, announced a temporary sell-out of U.S. Silver Eagles this week.

At the Comex close: August gold slid $4.30 to $1,159.20; September silver gained 20 cents to $15.361; October platinum lost $13.40 to $1,022.40; and September palladium dropped $15.50 to $638 an ounce.