Daily Gold Update

Source: Dr. Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold gained for a seventh straight day, adding 0.4% to close over $1,300 for the first time since early November. Weaker-than-expected retail sales data combined with rising jobless claims to undermine the dollar and boost demand for the precious metal as an alternative store of value. Gold has now rallied 4% in seven sessions, its longest winning streak since 2011.

First-time jobless claims rose by 8,000 to 339,000 last week, futher underscoring persistent weakness in the labor markets that was already apparent after two consecutive months of disappointing U.S. non-farm payrolls reports. In a separate release, retail sales dropped in January by the most in 20 months, signaling a slow start to the economy in 2014.

The dollar index tumbled nearly 0.5% after the alarming data as traders speculated that the Fed may have to slow its taper of quantitative easing to prop up the staggering recovery. The other precious metals followed gold higher, with silver and palladium both adding 0.3% while platinum picked up 0.4%. It was silver's ninth straight day of gains.

At the Comex close: April gold gained $5.10 to $1,300.10; March silver added 0.3%, to $20.395; April platinum rose by $9.30 to $1,416.60; and March palladium picked up $2.05 to $731.10 an ounce.