Daily Gold Update

Source: MarketWatch

New York— Gold futures rallied above $900 an ounce Friday to their highest level since early October, as falling equities and worries about the global economy prompted investors to seek a safe haven. Gold for February delivery was last up $40.70, or 4.7%, to $899.50 an ounce in electronic trading on Globex. Earlier, gold soared to an intraday high of $901.20 an ounce on Globex, which is the metal's highest level since Oct. 8, 2008.

"The market is up on safe-haven buying after equity market weakness this morning and poor earnings, which make gold attractive to investors right now," said James Steel, gold analyst at HSBC. On Wall Street, U.S. stocks posted losses, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 106 points, or 1.3%. In more worrying economic news, Britain's economy contracted at its fastest quarterly pace in nearly 29 years during the final three months of 2008, government data revealed Friday, marking a result even worse than most economists' pessimistic expectations. See full story.